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Thit  inm  it 
Cedocunw 

10X 

film) 

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fitmi 

au  tau>  dt  riduction  indiqiit  ci-dnwut 
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22X 

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1 

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20X 

24  X 

2SX 

32X 

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pramiira  page  qui  comporte  una  emprelnte 
d'impression  ou  d'lllustratlon  at  en  terminant  par 
la  darnlire  paga  qui  comporte  una  telle 
emprelnte. 

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ess:  la  symbols  -«-  signlfie  "A  SUIVRE".  le 
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at  da  haut  en  bas.  en  prenant  la  nombra 
d'imagas  nicessaira.  Lea  diagrammes  sulvants 
illustrent  la  mAthode. 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

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»««OC0fY  «fSOlUTK)N   TIST  CHAW 

(ANSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHART  No.  2) 


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DOHALD  G.  FnENCH 


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« 


POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 


BY 


DONALD   G.   FRENCH 

(PuNCiPAi  Cakadiam  CoRKiaroMDiHci  CoLLisi.  Toronto  Cakada) 


RIDGEWOOD,   N.  J. 

THE   EDITOR   COMPANY 
1 910 


COPTKIOBT,    19  lO 

■T 

THE  EDITOR  COMPANY 


FOREWORD 


The  essa3rs  which  fonn  the  body  cf  this  book  are 
reprinted  by  permission  from  The  Editor  (A  Journal 
of  Information  for  Literary  Workers),  Ridgewood,  N.  J. 

They  are  the  outcome  of  several  years  of  reading,  study- 
ing, and  teaching  literature — the  latter  both  orally  and 
by  coirespondence. 

This  book  is  offered  to  students  of  literature  by  a 
fellow-student  with  the  hope  that  it  may  be  a  help  to 
them  in  showing  what  to  look  for  in  a  poem;  it  is  pre- 
sented by  a  teacher  of  literature  to  fellow-teachers  that 
it  may  serve  in  some  measure  as  a  guide  to  what  is  to 
be  taught  regarding  a  poem.  And — this  may  be  treading 
on  dangerous  ground — it  is  respectfully  tendered  to 
verse-makers  with  the  suggestion  that  it  may  be  of 
some  assistance  in  pointing  out  what  may  be  put  into 
a  poem. 

DoNAU)  G.  French. 

Toronto,  Canada, 
February,  1910. 

3 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

FOREWORD '*"■ 

CHAPTER  I 
The  Language  of  Poetry - 

CHAPTER  II 

FiomiEs  OE  Speech  in  Poetky  . 

*4 

CHAPTER  III 
The  Simple  Laws  op  Rhythm jo 

CHAPTER  IV 
The  Mdsic  op  Poetry „ 

CHAPTER  V 

Tone-color  in  Poetry  .... 

3° 

CHAPTER  VI 

Rhyme  and  the  Reason ,. 

i 


6  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  VII 
Vnss-rouis  and  Rbyice-scheiies '*5i 

CHAPTER  VIII 
The  Subject-mattu  or  Poetsy ^p 

CHAPTER  IX 
The  Mecbanish  or  Vekse -j 

CHAPTER  X 
The  PsYCHoiooY  op  Poetby 66 

CHAPTER  XI 
A  Sttoy  in  Emotional  Epiects .» 

APPENDIX  A 
Recognized  Teshs  in  VERsincAnoN gi 

APPENDIX  B 
Books  TO  Read o. 


POINTS  ABOl'T  POETRY 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  LANGUAGE  OF  POETRY 

/  I  AHERE  is  not  a  distinct  language  for  prose  and 

_£       another  for  jjoetry,  yet  it  is  quite  certain  that 

words  which  are  suited  to  the  conveyance  of 

plain,  everyday  information  are  not  always  fitting  for  the 

expression  of   poetic  thought.     Words  are  imporUnt 

not  only  for  what  they  denote,  that  is,  for  the  meaning 

which  they  of  themselves  actually  convey,  but  also  for 

what  they  connote,  what  they  suggest.    The  simplest 

w„.  Is  of  the  language  may  convey  the  most  beautiful 

poetic  truth,  may  paint  "the  Ught  that  never  was  on 

sea  or  land,"  but  the  use  of  a  word  wliich  is  habitually 

associated  with  the  commonplace,  the  mechanical  or 

technical,  will  grate  harshly  on  a  cultivated  ear. 

I'here  is  a  vast  difference  in  the  poetic  value  of: 

A  voice  so  thrilling  ne'er  was  heard 
In  springtime  from  the  cucJtoo-bird, 
Breaking  the  silence  of  the  seas 
Amid  the  farthest  Hebrides. 

— Wobdswokth:  "The  SoUtary  Reaper,' 

7 


8 


POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 


y 


and  the  foUowing  lines  found  toward  the  end  of  the 
same  poem: 

"I  listened  till /AarfwyyH/ 
And  then  I  nounted  up  the  hiU." 

This  second  extract  recaUs  the  pathetic  tale  of  Jack 
and  Jill,  and  is  of  a  very  little  higher  order  of  poetry 

The  Idea  of  suggestion  affects  not  only  the  choice  of 
words  .a  poetry  but  also  the  entire  sentence  structure 
A  mere  hint  may  serve  the  purpose  which  in  prose" 
could  be  attamed  only  by  a  definite,  clear-cut  statement. 
Mence,  the  poetic  sentence  has  frequently  no  exact 
grammatical  structure,  but  may  be  a  mere  fragmen. 
--ckmg  Its  subject  or  lacking  predicate. 

There  Shakespeare,  on  whose  forehead  climb 

T^T"™"  °'  ""  *°'"'''-    Oh  eyes  sublime. 
With  tears  and  laughter  for  all  time! 

-Mks.  Browning:  "A  Vision  of  Poets." 

The  purpose  of  pro*  writing  is  to  convey  facte; 
poefa^^conveys  facte  or  truths  plus  feelii^s.  This 
expnOEs-the  prevalence  of  the  exclamatory  sentence  in 
poetic  composition.  The  difference  in  effect  may  be 
seen  by  comparing  the  statement,  "This  night  is  verv 
^autiful,"  with  the  exclamation,  "How  beautiful  Z 

The  characteristic  features  of  poetic  language  may  be 
summed  up  as  foUows:  *       ^ 

shotSSft;:  "''' ''"''"'  '°  ~°''°"  "'''  '''"'«"*»« 


I 


THE  LANOUAGE  OF  POETRY  Q 

1.  Shorter  forms  of  words. 

OJt  have  I  leen  at  break  of  day. 

— WORDSWOSTH:    "Lucy  Gray." 

2.  Omission  of  particles,  as  the  article,  the  relative 
conjunctive,  infinitive: 

There  never  was  (a)  knight  like  the  young  Lochinvar. 
—Scott:  "Mannion." 

3-  Frequent  use  of  the  possessive,  even  for  inanimate 
objects: 

Crushed  beneath  the  furrow's  weighi. 

— BuBNs:  "1o  a  Daisy." 

4.  Use  of  temporary  compounds  in  place  of  phrases 
or  clauses: 

His  aU-accomplishtd  maid. 

—Holmes:  "My  Aunt." 

II.  In  the  attempt  to  get  away  from  commonpUceness 
J>f  expression  there  is  found  the  use  of: 

1.  Archaisms,  or  words  or  forms  not  now  in  general 
use,  but  whose  meaning  is  intelligible: 

For  thee  who  thus  in  too  protracted  song 
Hath  soothed  thine  idlesse  with  inglorious  lays. 

— Bwon:  "ChUde  Harold." 

a.  Uncommon  words  for  prosaic  things: 

"At  the  church  door  they  made  a  gathering  for  him." 

3-  Sparing  use  of  coUoquial  abbreviations,  as  77/ 
don't,  etc.  ' 


10 


POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 


III.  To  preKnt  dear,  beautiful  pictures  to  the  mental 
eye  the  poet  uaes: 

I.  Imagery,  or  word-pa"  ting,  comparative  descrip- 
tion (this  involves  the  whole  subject  of  figures  of  speech, 
which  reqmres  separate  treatment). 

The  gemmy  bridle  glittered  free, 
Like  to  same  branch  of  stars  vie  see 
Hung  in  the  golden  Galaxy. 

—Tennyson;  "The  Lady  of  Shalott." 

a.  The  employment  of  epithet,  that  is,  the  use  of  the 
descriptive  adjective.  There  are  three  classes  of  epithets: 

(o)  The  essential  epithet,  the  idea  being  abeady  sug- 
gested by  the  noun;  as,  "green  pastures,"  "  briny  ocean," 
"bold  Sir  Bedivere,"  (where  the  epithet  "bold"  has 
become  a  par*  of  the  name). 

(6)  Decorauve  epithets;  these  are  used  most  fre- 
quently ard  give  life  and  color  to  the  poem. 

The  long  white  drift  upon  whose  powdered  peak 

I  sat  in  the  great  silence  as  one  bound; 

The  rippled  sheet  of  snow  where  the  wind  blew 

Across  the  open  fields  for  miles  ahead; 

The /or-o/ city  towered  and  roofed  in  blue 

A  tender  line  upon  the  western  red. 

— Lampman:  "Winter  Uplands." 

(e)  Phrase  epithets,  or  the  use  of  a  condensed  form  of 
expression  which  would  require  a  phrase  or  clause  to 
convey  the  idea  in  detail 

So  those  brothers  with  their  murdered  man 

Rode  past  fair  Florence 

— Keais;  "The  Pot  c'  Baail." 


I 


THE  LANGUAGE  OF  POETRY  11 

Here  the  word  "murdered"  really  means  "whom 
they  were  about  to  murder." 

IV.  Uflguage  is  modified  for  the  sake  of  sound; 
U>e  general  modifications  exacted  by  meter  and  rhyme 
do  not  .ome  within  the  province  of  this  chapter,  but  we 
find: 

I.  Names  chosen  for  euphony.    "Erin"  for  Ireland, 
Columbia  "  for  America. 

a.  Much  greater  use  of  alliteration  and  assonance 
The  combmation  of  both  these  devices  is  shown  in: 

"Aiiy,  fairy  Lilian, 
Flitting,  fairy  Lilian." 

3.  The  sound  in  poetry  more  frequenUy  correspond* 
to  the  sense.  This  aspect  of  poetry  deserves  a  special 
study  by  itself,  since  the  form  and  movement  of  poetry 
IS  but  a  natural  out^owth  of  the  emotion  and  the  ideas 
requiring  expression. 

The  study  of  poetry  should  be  of  great  value  to  the 
would-be  verse  writer.  Study  it  with  a  view  to  learning 
how  It  IS  constructed,  not  that  you  may  imitate,  but 
that  you  may  understand  the  main  principles  of  poetic 
composition. 

This  chapter  aims  merely  at  touching  upon  main 
features  in  which  poetic  diction  differs  from  prose 
Simply  reading  it  over  may  be  helpful,  but  following 
out  a  course  of  independent  research  and  study  along 
the  lines  therein  indicated  wiU  be  of  much  greater  prac- 
tic»l  value. 


13 


WINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 


Sdocistions  roi  Study  and  Piacticc 

1.  Select  example,  from  the  works  of  «,  different 

7^'  TT^  ""  P"'"'*  «'^"  '"  "-i.  article.  NotS 
Wordaworth  Coleridge.  Te„nyK,„,  Kea.,.  Brownie 
Chaucer,  and  Spenser  are  recommended 

.nrf  .?**"!!  "''*.•''""''  '°  P"*.  avoiding  the  rhyme 
and  the  words  which  are  characteristically  poetic. 

"On  either  side  the  river  lie 
Long  fields  of  barley  and  of  rye 
That  clothe  the  wold  and  meet  'the  sky 
And  thro'  the  field  the  road  runs  by 

To  many-towered  Canelot; 
And  up  and  down  the  people  po 
Gaiing  where  the  lilies  blow 
Round  an  island  there  below, 

The  island  of  Shalott." 

idea  ^*''^'  '  compound  word  which  will  express  the 

(a)  A  person  who  has  recently  arrived. 
(A)  Covered  over  with  ivy. 

(c)  The  panels  of  which  shone  with  wax 

(d)  The  house  which  had  been  his  familiar  haunts. 
W  Which  have  been  newly  discovered 

*'!:^'Z  hT  '''''"f "'  '"  exclamatory  structure. 

(a)  The  duke  struggled,  rose  from  the  block  and 
looked  reproachfully  at  the  executione-. 

(ft)  The  impression  produced  on  my  mind  will 
never  be  forgotten.  uu  win 

(f)  Everywhere  around  you  are  evidences  of  a 
mysterious  power. 


pent 

Dtr: 
ing. 

■me 


he 


THE  WNGUACE  OF  POETRY  13 

S  ^"*««n«  «"nd,  the  people  offered  the  prize. 
W  The  moon  i.  shining  down  upon  the  water. 

!r  Ind  °  T"*'  I'""^  'y  ■"»'•"»«  P*"'^'".  verbs, 
etc  and  mdcmg  the  necessary  change,  in  words  to 
give  rhyme  and  metrical  form. 

(J'Z"a  "  *""  °'  *'■"""  °'  '"«*P»'°"  describing 
(a)  a  andscape  covered  with  snow.  (4)  the  same  land 

-P«  '"  autumn  dress.  (.)  .he  same'lanLapeTspnllJ: 

Ju^^'  *!i  '^^l  'P'"""  "  P""'"'  "hich  might 
be^  .„  descnbmg:    a  lake,  a  mountain,  a  viofct. 

8.  Select  a  paragraph  of  narrative  prose  and  write 
phras^puheu  wherever  possible  for  phrases  or  clau*, 

9.  Take  a  paragraph  of  prose  and  tmn  it  into  poetry, 
usmg  several  aUiterated  words  ^ 

10  (a)  Select  a  line  of  poetry  which  is  raoid  in  move- 
ment.   Alter  It  so  that  the  motion  will  be  slow 

(4)  Select  a  line  in  which  the  motion  is  slow  and  alter 
It  to  make  the  movement  fast. 


CHAPTER  n 
FIGURES  OF  SPEECH  IN  POETRY 

F CURES  of  speech  a«  used  in  poet^  chiefly  to 
convey  to  .he mindconcrete  pict^s^  Two  dis! 
t  net  attitudes  of  mind  must  be  realized-the  in^ 

culd  "k'  "'  '""°"°°'^-    T*^"  f°™-  deal    w^" 
facts  and  absfract  calculations;  the  latter  is  impre^ 

nd^ctly     The  mdirect  influence  of  the  senses  come, 

otms  faculty  that  the  poet  must  almost  always  appeal 

In  h.    own  mmd  the  poet  has  definite  though^ 

dear-cut  pictures,  and  he  uses  figurative  lanial  to 

make  his  readers  see  eye  to  eye  wl^h  him.    pS'aJy 

SSe  'r'  °'  ^'^^'  ""^  '"  P-^  •>-«  their  3 
wjthe  one  common  purpose  of  conveying  an  idea  « 

Sav^theTrT-    ^'  '"  ^"^  ^'='''"  "-'- '  "^ 

The^ixtfrsJiri^:^^ 

«ntmg  the  object  as  like  something  £  witlf  S 

Simile,  which  IS  usuaUy  introduced  by  the  w^.^^ 

U 


FIGURES  OF  SPEECH  IN  POETRY  15 

M,  '■>,  etc.  The  comparison  must  be  made  between 
objects  o  different  classes  so  that  there  is  conSsTas 
weU  as  hkeness.    The  poet  seizes  upon   the  s^ng 

helps  to  brmg  out  more  strongly  the  points  of  similarity. 

Blue  were  her  eyes  as  Ike  fairy  flax 

Her  cheeks  like  ike  dawn  of  day 

And  her  bosom  white  as  ike  kawlkorn  buds 

that  open  in  the  month  of  May 

-Longfellow:  "Wreck  of  the  Hesperus," 
there  is  the  concrete  coloring  of  the  flax,  the  momine 
dawn  and  the  hawthorn  blossom  clearly  presented       ' 
re  J  K,    ^    "  /'  ^'^^  ^  ''"P  f""*""  ''nd  bemuse  of  the 

England  hath  need  of  thee;  she  is  a/« 
Of  stagnant  waters;  a/tor,  .awrf,  and  ten, 

Have  forfeited  their  ancient  English  dower 

Ut  inward  happiness. 

-Wordswokth:  "Sonnet  on  London." 
There  are  very  many  metaphoric  terms,  as  altar  for 
religioMconcrete  for  abstract),  sword  for  war,  pen  Z 

irT"^^"-  '''^""'*'  '"   P°""y   ^"d   '"  prose.     It   is 
freely  used  ,n  everyday  speech.    It  has  m^  varie"e 

Synecdoche,  Metonymy,  Personification,  Allegory Tje' 
are  but  particular  types  of  metaphor  «°'y' *'""^- 


1« 


POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 


Synecdoche  consists  in  putting  part  of  an  object  for 
the  whole  (or  the  whole  for  a  part),  in  seizing  on  the  most 
conspicuous  detail. 

Round  about  the  keel  with  faces  pale 

The  mUd-eyed,  melancholy  Lotos  Eaters  came 

—Tennyson:  "  The  Lotos  Eatets." 

Here  keel  stands  for  the  whole  ship.  Picture  a  vessel 
drawn  up  on  the  beach  and  consider  what  would  be 
most  prominent.    But  in 

"Thirty  saU  were  seen  off  the  coast," 

the  sail,  under  these  conditions  being  the  noticeable 
detail,  serves  to  represent  the  complete  vessel 

Metonymy  is  a  metaphor  which  presents  an  object 

by  naming  something  closely  associated  with  it     In 

the  extract  from  Wordsworth's  somiet  the  metaphor 

a  fen  of  stagnant  waters"  may  be  classed  as  a  general 

^japh^  whUe.  altar,  sword,  etc.,  are  e.mK 

Personification  represents  an  abstraction  as  a  living 
person:  "nug 

In  the  fight  was  Death  the  gainer, 
Spite  of  vassal  or  retainer. 

-LoNGPEiLOW:  "The  Nonnan  Baron." 

fJ\^'^°'^  ^'^''  '""^  metaphorical  idea  through 
the  whole  composition.  The  best-known  allegory  1„ 
English  hterature  is  "Bunyan's  Pilgrims's  ProgrL- 
2?: '.V^S""^  ''""""^  "'""^  *3ueene."  Tenny- 


FIGURES  OF  SPEECH  IN  POETRY  17 

The  Other  class  of  figures  of  speech  used  in  poetry 
have  their  ongm  in  the  desire  for  strength  or  fo^  of 
expression.  These  are  Apostrophe,  Exclamation,  and 
Hyperbole. 

/  In  Apostrophe  absent  persons  are  addressed  as  if 
present,  inanimate  objects  spoken  to  as  if  they  had  life 
The  strength  of  the  figure  lies  in  the  realization  of  the 
objec*  as  concrete,  living,  and  present. 

Milton!  Thou  shouldst  be  living  at  this  hour. 

-Wokdswokth:  "Sonnet  on  London." 
Hail  to  thee,  bright  Spirit! 

—Shelley:  "The  Skylark." 
This    figure    closely  resembles    Personification;     the 
difference  consists  in  the  realization  of  the  person  or 
object  as  present,  making  a  stronger  picture. 

The  Exclamation  bodies  forth  the  emotion  of  the 
^aker,  presents  to  the  Imagination  a  concrete  con- 
dition.  Compare  these  two  modes  of  expression  and 
notice  the  wide  difference  in  effectiveness. 

"  But  she  is  in  her  g.«ve,  and  oh 
The  difference  to  me!" 

"  But  she  is  in  her  grave  and 
It  makes  a  great  difference  to  me." 

In  the  second  mode  we  have  the  thought  fully  expressed 
but  in  the  first  we  have  the  thought  plus  the  concret(^ 
condition— the  emotion. 

Hyperbole   is   a   sort   of   mental   microscope.    By 
multiplying  the  effect  through  exaggeration,  the  desired 


% 


18 


POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 


clearness  and  strength  of  outline  of  the  mental  picture 
is  obtained. 

"  The  waves  rolled  mountains  high." 

In  the  use  of  similes  these  points  should  be  ob- 
served: 

I.  A  simile  is  not  a  real  comparison  of  like  things: 
therefore,  the  simile  should  not  be  drawn  from  something 
which  bears  too  close  a  resemblance  to  the  object  com- 
pared. 

a.  The  simile  should  be  simple  and  natural,  and  to 
be  so  must  not  be  drawn  from  something  which  has  too 
faint  a  resemblance  to  the  compared  object. 

3.  The  simile  should  be  drawn  from  objects  in  keep- 
ing with  the  intellectual  and  emotional  tone  of  the  poem. 

4.  Make  similes  for  the  sake  of  clearness  and  not 
for  the  mere  pui  pose  of  making  similes. 

In  the  use  of  metaphors: 

1.  Do  not  mix  metaphorical  and  literal  in  the  same 
expression  or  sentence;  strive  for  unity  of  effect. 

2.  Do  not  mix  your  metaphors;  keep  to  one  point 
of  view.    Notice: 

"  I  bridle  in  my  struggling  muse  with  paj 
That  longs  to  launch  into  a  bolder  strain." 

-  The  writer  here  began  by  comparing  the  muse  to 
a  horse,  but  in  the  second  line  proposes  to  launch  it 
as  a  ship. 


FIGURES  OF  SPEECH  IN  POETRY 


19 


SUGGESnONS  FOB  STUDY  AND  PRACTICE 
ANALYTIC 

I.  Select  from  poems  by  standard  authors  examples 
of  the  difiFerent  figures  discussed. 

7.  Select  examples  of  similes  that  appeal  to  the 
imagination  through  the  (a)  sense  of  sight;  (b)  through 
the  sense  of  hearing;    (c)  through  the  sense  of  taste. 

3.  Select  three  examples  of  comparisons  which  are 
not  similes.  Select  examples  of  faulty  similes  and 
mixed  metaphors  and  discuss  their  defects. 

5.  Compare  the  use  of  figurative  language  in  Tennyson 
with  that  in  Browning.    Compare  both  with  Pope. 


*H 


CONSTRUCTIVE 

I.  Write  original  examples  of  all  the  figures  given. 

1.  Take  several  examples  of  descriptions  of  incidents 

and  put  them  into  exclamatory  form.    Note  the  effect. 

3.  Select  examples  of  apostrophe  and  exclamation. 
Turn  them  into  ordinary  declarative  sentences.  Note 
the  effect. 

4.  Write  a  simile  which  appeals  to  the  imagination 
(a)  through  the  eye;   (b)  through  the  ear. 

5.  Write  out  a  list  of  metaphorical  expressions  which 
you  find  yourself  using  in  ordinary  conversation. 


CHAPTER  III 


THE  SIMPLE  LAWS  OF  RHYTHM 

THE  demental  laws  of  rhythm  are  few  and  simple; 
they  are  older  than  poetry;  they  existed  before 
music.  When  man  first  began  to  express  his 
ideas  by  means  of  sounds  he  was  unwittingly  pre- 
paring the  raw  material  of  verse;  when  his  ear  first 
appreciated  the  pleasant  effect  of  a  succession  of  sounds 
striking  it  at  regular  intervals,  he  had  discovered  the 
secret  of  rh;  hm.  When  he  uttered  these  thoughts  by 
arranging  these  sounds  to  meet  the  ear  with  pleasing 
regularity,  the  first  poetry  of  the  world  was  bom. 

For  poetry  is  but  the  music  of  words,  define  it  as  you 
will.  It  is  the  expression  of  ideas,  emotions,  fancies, 
always  in  rhythmical  form. 

To  trace  the  laws  of  rhythm  is  an  easy  matter.  Away 
with  dry  text-books,  and  learned  treatises  on  amphi- 
brach, choriamb,  initial  truncation,  cataletic,  acateletic, 
etc.    Let  us  study  poetry. 

Since  rhythm  is  a  matter  of  sound  it  is  necessary  that 
poetry  be  read  aloud  in  order  that  this  quality  be 
appreciated.  Take  a  few  lines  of  Scott's  "Lay  of  the 
Last  Mmstrel";  read  naturally,  the  words  f^  apart 
into  groups,  thus: 

"The  way  |  was  long  |  the  wind  |  was  cold. 
The  min- 1  strel  was  |  infinn  |  and  old." 

20 


THE  SIMPLE  LAWS  OF  RHYTHM 


21 


Read  Portia's  speech  on  Mercy  in  the  Trial  Scene 
of  the  "Merchant  of  Venice."  Notice  aiiin  the  group- 
ing: 

"The  qual- 1  ity  |  of  mer- 1  cy  is  |  not  strained, 
It  drop-  Ipeth  as  |  the  gen-  |tle  rain  |  from  heaven;" 

orinPoe's"Raven": 

"Once  up- 1  on  a  I  midnight  |  dreary 
While  1 1  pondered  |  wealt  and  |  weary;" 

or  this  from  Tennyson: 

"Brealclbreaklbrealc 
On  thy  cold  |  gray  stones  |  O,  sea 
And  I  would  |  that  my  tongue  |  could  utter 
The  thoughts  |  that  arise  |  m  me." 

What  is  the  basis  of  this  grouping?  Merely  the  fact 
that  each  group  requires  the  same  length  of  time  for 
utterance.  In  the  first  quotation  we  find  four  distinct 
groups  to  each  line,  each  requiring  equal  time  for 
utterance. 

There  may  be  one,  two,  or  three  syllables  in  each  time- 
group.  In  the  last  extract  the  time  occupied  in  utter- 
ing the  monosyllable  "Break"  (or  filled  in  by  a  pause) 
is  the  same  as  that  occupied  in  the  utterance  of  the 
three-syllable  group  "on  thy  cold,"  or  the  two-syllable 
groups  "gray  stones,"  "O,  sea."  Time,  then,  is  the 
first  law  0/  rhythm. 

Going  back  to  the  fundamental  law  of  language  we 
find  that  the  simplest  grouping  of  soimds  to  express 
ideas  forms  a  word  of  one  syllable — the  syllable  is  the 
unit  of  utterance.    But  the  force  of  utterance  of  every 


1i 


!l 


22 


POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 


syllable  is  not  the  same.  The  vocal  chords  are  not 
capable  of  uttering  a  continuous  stream'  of  sounds  of 
equal  strength.  In  each  group  of  uttered  syllables 
we  notice  a  certain  stress  of  voice  on  certain  syllables, 
and  a  slighter  vocal  impulse  in  the  utterance  of  others. 
Referring  again  to  the  first  quotation,  this  stress  will  be 
found  on  "way,  loog,  wind,  cold,  min-,  was,  -firm, 
old."  In  the  third  extract  the  stress  will  be  found  to 
come  on  the  first  syllable  of  each  group,  "once,  on, 
mid,  drear."  The  first  line  of  the  last  extract  shows  a 
single  stressed  syllable  filling  out  each  time-group. 
In  the  second  line  the  stress  falls  on  the  last  word  of 
each  group. 

This  stress  or  accent  is  found  to  come  at  regular  time- 
intervals.  It  serves  to  mark  off  the  time-groups.  This 
is  the  second  law  of  rhythm.  And  now  we  have  them  all, 
for  all  variations  of  metrical  form  are  based,  first  in  time 
of  utterance  of  sounds,  and,  secondly,  on  the  regular 
recurrence  of  aaented  syllables. 

The  examination  of  a  ntmiber  of  extracts  will  show 
that  the  number  of  syllables  in  the  time-group  may 
vary  from  one  to  three;  that  the  accent  may  fall  on  any 
syllable  of  the  group,  but  it  must,  as  a  rule,  continue 
regular  throughout  the  poem,  that  is,  either  regularly 
falling  on  the  first  syllable,  or  always,  in  the  particular 
poem,  on  the  third  syllable,  or  on  the  second,  but  not 
first  on  one  syllable  and  then  on  the  other. 

The  term  meter  is  usually  applied  to  the  marking  off 
of  the  lines  of  poetry  into  time-groups  or  feet.  The 
mere  doing  of  this  in  the  usual  academic  manner,  like 
the  chopping  up  of  fagots  with  a  hatchet,  is  colorless 


THE  SIMPLE  LAWS  OF  RHYTHM 


23 


and  utterly  useless.  The  rhythm  of  a  poem  is  really 
the  lilt  of  the  musical  air.  It  expresses  the  time  and 
accent  of  the  tune  but  not  the  pitch.  This  may  be 
shown  by  taking  the  above  selection  from  Tennyson 
and  representing  it  thus: 

W  I  la'  I  la' 
U  la  la'  |Ia  la'  { la  la' 
U  la  la'  I  la  la  la'  I  la  la' 
la  la'  I  la  la  la'  |  la  la'. 

Giving  due  consideration  to  relative  time  and  accent 
we  here  have  the  rhythm  apart  from  the  poem  itself — 
that  is,  we  have  the  bare  lilt  of  the  tune. 

The  correctness  of  this  interpretation  of  rhythmic 
laws  is  proved  by  the  methods  of  the  poets  themselves. 
Tennyson  tells  us  that  the  peculiar  meter  of  the  "Charge 
of  the  Light  Brigade"  had  its  origin  in  his  hearing  or 
reading  the  phrase,  "  Someone  had  blundered."  This 
gave  the  impulse  that  somehow  created  in  his  mind  the 
rhjrthm  which  so  aptly  pulses  through  the  poem.  Bums, 
one  of  the  world's  sweetest  singers,  knew  probably 
nothing  about  the  technicalities  of  versification.  His 
songs  were  built  upon  the  rhythm-,  of  the  tenderest 
of  old  Scottish  airs. 


itil 


Suggestions  for  Study  and  Practice 

I.  Select  examples  of  two-syllable  meter  (o)  with 
accent  on  first  syllable  of  the  groups,  (6)  with  accent 
on  second  syllable.  Divide  off  the  groups  and  mark 
the  accents. 

3.  Select  examples  of  three-syllable  meter  (a)  with 


24 


POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 


tccenta  on  first  syllable  of  the  groups,  (4)  with  accents 
on  second  syUable,  (c)  with  accent  on  third  syllable. 

3.  Look  up  examples  of  each  kind  of  meter,  in  which 
single  syllables  are  lengthened,  in  to  take  the  place  of 
two  or  three  syllables. 

4.  Try  to  write  a  couple  of  lines  of  original  verse  in 
each  kind  of  meter. 

S-  Take,  at  random,  from  a  magLzine  a  stanza  from 
a  number  of  different  poems  and  mark  off  the  meter. 
Read  the  verse  aloud  and  get  the  swing  of  the  meter. 
Practice  this  with  poems  of  standard  authors. 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  MUSIC  OF  POETRY 

MUSIC  is  the  expression  of  emotion  without  woid* 
and  may,  therefore,  arouse  feelings  of  sadness, 
joy,  peace,  etc.,  without  involving  the  concep- 
tion of  any  definite  ideas.  Poetry  is  the  expression 
of  emotion  m  words,  and  an  attempt  is  made  to  pro- 
duce, as  nearly  as  possible  within  the  limitations  of 
ordmary  speech,  the  effects  of  music.  This  attempt 
is  the  basis  of  all  forms  of  meter. 

Almost  anyone  can  recognize  the  difference  between 
the  slow,  solemn  tones  of  the  Dead  March  ard  the  quick, 
cheerful  movement  of  an  Irish  jig:  the  dreamy  music 
of  the  waltz  is  readily  distinguished  from  the  "ragtime" 
of  the  negro  melody.  The  difference  in  effect  is  caused 
by  a  difference  in  the  length  of  the  notes  used  and  the 
number  grouped  in  each  measure,  and  a  consequent 
variation  of  the  accent.  The  fewer  and  longer  the  notes 
m  a  bar  the  more  solemn  and  stately  the  music,  while 
several  short  notes  in  succession  produce  a  lively 
effect.  ' 

We  find  precisely  the  same  thing  in  poetry;  long 
vowels  and  short  measures  are  in  keeping  with  verse 
of  dignity  and  deep  thought;  longer  measures  with 
shorter  vowel  unds  produce  a  form  of  meter  suitable 
to  lighter  themes. 

35 


}\ 


26 


POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 


We  need  only  to  read  aloud  the  lines: 


and 


"Break,  break,  break. 
On  thy  cold,  gray  stones,  O  Sea," 

"So  this  is  your  cradle,  why,  surely,  my  Jenny, 
Such  cosy  dimensions  go  clearly  to  show,"  etc.. 


to  tell  from  the  movement  of  the  voice  alone  that  the 
theme  of  the  former  is  full  of  licep,  serious  emotion, 
and  that  the  latter  is  an  extract  from  something  light 
and  humorous. 

Examine  the  metrical  form  in  these  quotations: 
the  first  line  of  the  first  extract  has  but  one  syllable 
to  a  measure;  in  the  second  line  two  syllables  is  the 
rule;  the  vowels  are  mostly  long.  In  the  second  quota- 
tion there  are  three  syllables  to  a  measure  and  the  vowels 
sounds  are  mostly  short. 

Vou  may  refer  to  any  poetical  selections  from  goou 
authors  and  you  will  find  that  our  rule  invariably  holds 
true.  Wordsworth,  in  his  disregard  for  form,  gives  us 
his  sweetly  serious  "Reverie  of  Poor  Susan"  in  lively 
dance  time  and  thus  spoils  the  whole  effect.  How  can 
one  feel  serious  in  reading: 

"At  the  cor  |  ner  of  Wood  |  Street,  when  day  |  light  appears 
Hangs  a  thrush  |  that  sings  loud;  |    it  has  sung  |  for 

three  years?" 
The  imitative  harmony  of  poetry  is  usually  the  musical 
effect  resulting  from  the  variety  in  arrangement  of  long 
and  short  vowel  sounds,  changes  of  accent,  and  dif- 
ference in  the  number  of  syllables  used  in  the  measure. 
Every  lover  of  poetry  can  collect  abundant  examples 


THE  MUSIC      r  POETRV  27 

of  miuiral  effect  in  poems.  We  will,  however,  cite 
here  a  few  quotations  which  will  further  illustrate  the 
points  mentioned. 

In  Tennron's  Lullaby  we  find  an  exact  imitation 
of  the  rockmg  of  the  cradle. 

"Sweet  I  and  loi  |  Swee't  |  and 'low, 
Wind  I  of  the  west  |  em  sea." 

Observe  carefully  how  the  monosyUabic  foot  and 
what  we  might  call  the  curve  of  «,und,  produce  a 
rhythmical  movement  which,  aside  from  any  idea  con- 
veyed by  the  words,  impresses  a  mental  picture  of  the 
rocking  cradle  by  imitating  its  sound 

In  Longfellow's  "Old  Clock  on  the  Stairs"  the  tick- 
Wg  of  the  pendulum  is  imitated  by  a  similar  device. 

"  For-cv-er  |  Nev-er 

Nev-er  |  For-ev-er." 

Tennyson  in  the  "Northern  Farmer"  makes  the  old 
man  speak  of  the  canter  of  his  horse  thus: 

"  Proputty,  proputty,  proputty,  that's  what 
1  near  em  say." 

Can't  you  hear  the  hoof-beats  on  the  hard  road? 
The  use  of  long  vowels  to  give  a  slow  movement  to 
the  verse  corresponding  to  the  sense,  is  shown  in: 

"The  long  day  wanes;  the  slow  moon  climbs; 
Ihe  deep  moans  round  with  many  voices." 


.'iji 


.1  41 

Mi. 


28 


POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 


Compare  with  the  above  the  movement  of: 

"Haste  thee,  nymph,  and  bring  with  thee 
Jest  and  youthful  jollity, 
Quips  and  cranlcs  and  wanton  wiles. 
Nods  and  becks  and  wreathed  smiles." 

In  Tennyson's  "Bugle  Song"  the  arrangement  of 
accent  changes  in  the  last  two  lines  of  each  stanza. 
First  we  have: 

/  '  /  / 

"The  splen  i  dor  falls  |  on  cast  |le  walls." 

Then  in  closing: 

"Blow  I  bugle  I  blow  |  set  the  wild  |  echoes  |  flying 
Blow  I  bugle  I  Answer  |  echoes  |  dying  |  dying  |  dying." 

In  the  refrain  the  gradual  falling  of  the  stress  of  voice 
in  the  pronunciation  of  the  words  in  each  measure 
imitates  the  dying  away  of  the  echoes.  With  the  stress 
falling  on  the  word  at  the  end  of  the  measure  this  effect 
could  not  have  been  produced. 

WhUe  in  much  poetry  the  element  of  music  is  greatly 
subordinated  to  the  meaning,  in  none— except  such  as 
Walt  Whitman's— is  it  entirely  absent.  Tennyson 
and  Swinburne  are  masters  of  the  art  of  infusing  subtle 
music  into  verse,  whUe  Dryden  and  Pope  give  us  a 
minimum  of  musical  effect.  The  poetiy  of  the  latter 
appeals  more  to  the  intellect,  yet  that  of  the  former  has 
a  deeper  effect  since  it  touches  the  chords  of  human 
sympathy  and  through  its  music  wakes  to  life  our  ten- 
derest  emotions. 


THE  MUSiJ  OF  POETRY  29 

A  Canadian  poet-,  i.ss  Carm.m-.  ays,  "The  measure 
ofve^e  has  an  influx,  eon  us  be.ond  our  trn    1 

Jet  z::?'''''"^-: "  "'"'• '"--  ■•"'°  -2 

verse,  comes  to  us  with  new  force." 

Suggestions  for  Study  and  Practice 

whth^''"",'  '7  '■'"''  ^™™  ^'^'^'^  °^  "^  """"^r  of  poems 
stir  ""''  ""  '"°^"°"-     -^-'^^  '"-^  ^MhTal 

..Select  a  few  lines  from  each  of  a  number  of  poems  ' 
the^hyZ.""^^  "'  '''''''''   ■■"   -~    An^y- 

rhvthm°H '  "  ^"''^^"'  '""""P'"  °f  P'^'"^  ■""  which  the 
rhythm  does  not  seem  to  correspond  to  the  thouX 
Analyze  carefully  and  note  the  reason  ^ 

aWertZ'^^"^"""""'"'^^'^^"--     ^^ -""■ 
^ffjf^  /^''"'"^  '^"  '"""^  '"'^  ""d  thought  try  the 

a  4£leT:;^:^^^""-°^^'-- --verse,  using 

'ive.nhSr^:;:r2::''^-^---^-Ha 


i   I'J 


CHAPTER  V 


TONE-COLOR  IN  POETRY 


ALL  the  musical  effects  in  poetry  are  reducible  to 
the  one  common  basis — sound.  These  sound- 
effects  may  be  divided  into  two  groups.  In 
music  there  is  melody,  i.e.,  the  regular  succession  of  ac- 
cented notes,  with  slow,  quick,  or  moderate  movement; 
in  poetry  ^there  is  rhythm  with  more  or  less  differentiated 
motion.  In  music  different  qualities  of  tone  are  pro- 
duced by  different  voices  or  different  instruments:  in 
poetry  the  reciurence  of  like  sounds  produces  a  variety 
of  minor  sound-effects.  The  rhythm  of  a  stanza  cor- 
responds to  the  tune  of  a  musical  composition,  and  while 
the  minor  sound-effects  are  not  by  any  means  identical 
with  the  timbre  of  music,  there  is  an  analogy  between 
the  two  wliich  is  recognized  by  the  use  of  the  term  "tone- 
color"  in  poetry. 

A  brief  survey  of  phonetics  will  be  useful  here.  Let 
it  be  remembered  that  words  are  made  up  of  certain 
sound-elements.  In  a  purely  phonic  alphabet  of  the 
English  language  there  would  be  forty  or  more  indi- 
vidual letters,  one  for  each  elementary  sound.  With  only 
twenty-six  letters  to  represent  these  forty  sounds  certain 
arbitrary  combinations  have  been  found  necessary. 
The  letters  used  to  represent  these  sounds  are  divided 
into   two   groups,   vowels   and   consonants.    For   our 

30 


TONE-COLOR  IN  POETRY 


31 


purpose  it  is  important  to  note  that  the  vowel  sounds 
are  produced  almost  entirely  by  the  action  of  the  vocal 
chords  and  thus  admit  of  a  greater  variation  of  effects 
than  is  possible  with  the  consonants.  The  vowels 
are  open  sounds;  the  consonant  sounds  are  formed 
with  the  aid  of  the  tongue,  the  lips,  teeth,  etc.  They 
differ  among  themselves  in  ease  of  utterance.  They 
are  frequently  classed  as  follows: 

Liquids:  /,  m,  n,  r. 

Aspirates:  h,  y,  g  (soft). 

Sibilants:  s,  or  c  {soft). 

Labials:  p,  b,  ph,f  or  v. 

Palatals:  k  (or  c,  hard),  g  (hard),  ch  (guttural). 

Linguals:  t,  d. 

The  liquid  sounds  give  the  smoothest  effects,  the 
sibilants  quicken  tH  lovement,  guttural  .tunds  pro- 
duce harsh  effects.      >'     .  ;  in: 

A  land  where  all  tnings  always  seemed  the  same. 
And  round  about  the  keel  with  faces  pale 
The  mild-eyed,  melancholy  Lotos  Eaters  came. 

—Tennyson:  "The  Lotos  Eaters." 

the  prevalence  of  the  sounds  /,  m,  n,  r,  and  the  consequent 
smooth  and  monotonous  effect. 

The  commonest  variety  of  tone-color  is  rhyme.  This 
is  the  repetition  of  like  sounds  at  the  end  of  different 
lines  of  a  poem.  It  may  be  purely  a  vowel-likeness 
as  in  single  rhyme  ending  with  jT vowel  sound. 

There  she  weaves  by  night  and  day 
A  magic  web  with  colors  gay. 

—Tennyson:  "TheUdy  of  Shalott"— 


'•■I 


32 


POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 


or  it  may  be  both  consonantal  and  vowel  resemblance: 

What  objects  are  the  fountains 
Of  thy  happy  sirainf 
What  field  or  waves  or  mountains? 
What  shapes  of  sky  or  plain? 

—Shelley:  "  To  a  Skylark." 

A  rhyme  must  always  contain  a   consonantal  con- 
trast as  above,  /  and  m  in  fountains  and  mountains. 

There  is  always  a  close  relation  between  the  rhyme 
and  thought  of  a  poem.    When  the  poet  attempts  to 
convey  to  us  his  own  emotions,  he  plays  upon  the  inner 
chords  of  our  natures  and  tunes  us  to  the  mood  of  his 
own   thoughts.    Thus  lyric   poetry   is  almost   always 
rhymed.    But  the  poet  may  aim  chiefly  at  telling  a 
story.    He  may  do  this  by  direct  narrative,  or  he  may 
create  his  characters  and  let  them  enact  the  plot.    The 
emotional  effect  is  produced  not  so  much  by  what  is 
said  as  by   what  is  suggested.    Hence   in   epic  and 
dramatic  poetry  rhyme  is  generally  absent. 
f.  Alliteration   is   the    repetition   of    like    consonantal 
sounds  in  words  occurring  at  different  points  in  a  line 
of  poetry.    These  sounds  may  be  either  initial  or  in- 
ternal.   Initial  alliteration  is  the  head-rhyme  of  early 
Anglo-Saxon  poetry.    The  usual  type  had  two  aUitera- 
tions  in  the  first  half  of  the  line  and  one  in  the  second. 
Some  lines  from  Beowulf,  the  early  Saxon  epic,  by  careful 
translation  show  this: 

I.  Grendel  going,  God's  anger  bare. 

a.  The  floater  foamy-necked  to  a  fowl  most  like. 

3.  Noisome  night  and  northern  wind. 


TONE-COLOR  IN  POETRY 


33 


Initial  alliteration  is  present  in  almost  all  English 
verse.  The  alliterated  syllables  are  usually  accented. 
The  vowel  sounds  foUowing  the  consonants  almost 
always  different,  so  that  the  contrasted  vowel-effect 
heightens  the  consonantal  similarity.  Examine  these 
lines: 

With  lisp  of  leaves  and  ripple  of  rain.— Swinburne. 
The  bare  black  cliff  clanged  round  him  .—Tennyson. 

Internal  alliteration  is  not  quite  so  noticeable  as  head- 
rhyme,  but  it  is  frtdly  used.  It  bears  a  closer  relation 
to  rhyme.     Examples  are: 

Stinging,  ringing,  spindrift,  nor  the  fulmar  flying  free. 

— KiPUNO. 

Here  the  syllable  ing  is  repeated. 

Murmuring  fror    Glaramara's  Inmost  caves. 

—Wordsworth. 

The  alliterations  are:   mur,  mur,  and  ara,  ara. 

A  careful  study  of  examples  and  reference  to  the 
table  of  consonantal  sounds  will  show  that  if  the  allit- 
erated sounds  come  from  he  same  group  the  effect  will 
be  smooth  and  melodir-is,  but  if  they  are  taken  from 
sharply  contrasted  gro  j.;,  the  impression  of  harshness 
will  result. 

Assonance  is  the  repetition  of  like  vowel  sounds 
throughout  the  lines  of  a  stanza.  In  some  cases  it  is 
closely  woven  with  alliteration,  in  others  it  resembles 
rhyme.  It  is  a  quality  which  has  received  but  little 
attention  from  writers  on  versification,  but  a  careful 
study  of  poetry  will  show  that  this  variety  of  tone- 


Mil 


34 


POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 


color  is  much  used,  although  its  effects  are  so  unob- 
trusive as  to  escape  casual  observation. 

Deep  on  the  convent  roof  the  snows 
Are  sparkling  to  the  moon: 
My  breath  to  heaven  like  vapor  goes, 
May  my  soul  follow  soon. 

—Tennyson:  "St.  Agnes  Eve." 

T'le  deep,  soft,  organ-like  tones  of  this  passage  will 
be  found  to  result  from  the  i)lay  upon  the  various  sounds 
of  the  letter  o,  because  assonance  does  not  imply  merely 
the  repetition  of  identical  sounds,  but  the  use  of  cognate 
sounds,  i.e.,  those  which  are  nearly  alike.  The  sounds 
of  o  may  be  represented  as  aw,  oh,  oo.  These  are 
found  in:  on,  convent,  roof,  snows,  to,  moon,  to,  vapor, 
goes,  soul,  follow,  soon. 

Examine  also: 

Hear  me,  for  I  will  speak  and  build  up  all 
My  sorrow  with  my  song,  as  yonder  walls 
Rose  slowly  to  a  music  slowly  breathed. 

—Tennyson:  "Oenone." 

The  musical  tones  are  o  and  e. 
Again,  the  exquisite  vowel-music  in: 

O  Sweet!  To-day  thou  art  all  my  own; 
No  dank  winds  blast 
Love's  outward  cast: 
O  Sweet!  To-day  thou  art  all  my  own. 

—J.  D.  Logan:  "Mezzotints  of  Love." 

The  play  here  being  on  the  vowel  sounds  o  and  a. 
In  assonance  we  have  the  closest  approach  to  pitch  in 


TONE-COLOR  IN  POETRY 


35 


music  that  is  possible  within  the  scale  of  tones  of  the 
common  conversational  voice. 

Onomatopoeia,  or  the  correspondence  of  the  sound 
of  a  word  to  its  meaning,  is  not  primarily  a  poetic  device: 
it  is  the  application  of  one  of  the  fundamental  laws  of 
language.  Since  our  ideas  are  conveyed  by  concrete 
sounds  which  are  represented  by  written  symbols,  it 
is  but  natural  that  the  word  should  be  an  attempt  to 
reproduce  the  sound  which  is  represented.  Thus  we 
get:  clang,  buzz,  bang,  etc. 
■  In  poetry  this  onomatopoetic  device  is  carried  much 
farther,  and  extends  often  to  the  whole  movement  of 
a  line,  a  stanza,  or  a  complete  poem. 


Proputty,  proputty,  proputty;  that's  what  I  hear  'em  say. 
— Tennyson:  "The  Northern  Farmer.". 


This  imitates  the  canter  of  the  horse. 

Browning's  "Ride  from  Ghent  to  Aix"  is  a  gallop 
throughout:  so,  too,  "John  Gilpin,"  by  Cowper. 

Repetition  of  whole  lines  is  another  device  in  tone- 
coloring.  Sometimes  this  occurs  regularly  at  the  end 
of  the  stanza  and  is  then  called  a  refrain  (or  burden). 
The  general  effect  is  to  impress  strongly  the  particular 
mood  of  the  poem,  for  example,  read  "Oriana," 
" The  Sands  o' Dee,"  "The  Bells,"  "The  Raven,"  "The 
Bugle  Song." 

The  student  of  poetry  who  fails  to  cultivate  an  ap- 
preciation of  the  niceties  of  tone-color  will  miss  much  of 
the  melody  and  harmony  of  verse;  the  writer  of  verse 
who  understands  not  .ae  simple  principles  which  under- 


t  J 


W  POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 

Me  iJl  these  delicate  musical  effects  wiU  grope  lonir  and 
blindly  for  the  proper  chords. 

Suggestions  for  Study  and  Practice 

1.  Collect  examples  of  different  kinds  of  rhyme  and 
observe  the  relation  between  the  rhyme  and  the  thouRht 
or  mood  of  the  poem. 

2.  Read  the  speeches  of  Brutus  and  Antony  on  the 
Death  of  Caesar  in  Shakespeare's  "Julius  Cssar"  and 
account  for  the  difference  in  form. 

3-  Read  Browning's  "Last  Duchess"  and  say  why 
the  rhyme  is  scarcely  noticeable. 

4.  Study  alliteration  and  assonance  in  the  poetry  of 
Shakespeare,  Milton,  Coleridge,  Tennyson,  Swinburne. 

S-  For  the  choice  of  harsh  combinations  read  Brown- 
ing "Up  at  a  Villa,"  "Childe  Roland,"  "Epistle  to 
Karshish,"  etc. 

6.  Collect  examples  of  onomotopoeia  and  refrains. 

7-  Take  an  extract  containing  harsh  sounds,  and 
rewrite  it  to  make  it  musical. 

8.  Select  a  passage  of  figurative  prose  and  turn  it 
mto  verse,  using  alliteration. 

9-  Select  a  stanza  of  magazine  verse  and  improve 
It  by  the  use  of  assonance. 

lo.  Rewrite  a  short  poem,  adding  a  suitable  refrain. 


CHAPTER  VI 


RHYME  AND  THE  REASON 

THE  repetition  of  similar  sounds  always  adds  to  the 
musical  effect  of  verse.  When  these  are  found 
at  the  end  of  the  line,  we  have  rhyme.  This 
rhyme  may  consist  of  one  or  more  syllables.  The 
initial  consonants  must  be  different,  but  all  sounds  after 
the  consonants,  alike;  to  prodiue  effective  rhyme  there 
must  be  contrast  as  well  as  similarity.  The  repetition 
of  identical  sounds  is  not  rhyme;  falls  rhymes  with 
ivalls,  but  air  and  heir  do  not  make  a  rhyme. 

Rhyme  always  emphasizes  in  meaning  somewhat  the 
words  on  which  it  falls.  In  a  rhyming  couplet  the  force 
of  the  second  word  is  usually  a  little  stronger  than  the 
first;  hence  that  ^vord  should  be  more  important  in 
meaning. 

Single  Rhyme.— The  simplest  form  of  rhyme  is  the 
coincidence  of  sound  in  words  of  one  syllable: 

There  she  weaves  by  night  and  day 
A  magic  web  with  colors  gay 
She  has  heard  a  whisper  say 
A  curse  is  on  her  if  she  slay 
To  look  down  to  Camelot. 

— Tfnnyson:  "The  Lady  of  Shalott." 

This  kind  of  rhyme  is  the  commonest  for  the  simple 
reason  that  it  is  easier  to  find  rhymes  for  monosyUabic 

37 


!     i 

I    ! 


.;  J I 


•  .(I 

•  If 
'  <i 


88 


POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 


words  than  for  words  of  greater  length.  Being  the 
most  natural  form  of  rhyme,  it  is  most  suited  to  serious 
or  reflective  themes. 

Double  Rhyme.— Two  syllables  rhymed;  this  form  is 
fairly  common,  but  often  varied  by  the  use  of  alternate 
single  rhyme: 

The  splendor  falls  on  castle  walls 
And  snowy  summits  old  in  slory. 

The  long  light  shakes  across  the  lakes 
And  the  wild  cataract  leaps  in  glory. 

—Tennyson:  "The  Bugle  Song." 

Here  the  second  and  fourth  lines  have  dissyllabic 
rhyme.    The  reverse  plan  is  found  in: 

The  mist  was  d'  i  i  .g  down  the  British  Channel, 

The  day  was  just  begun, 
And  through  the  window  pane  on  &oor  and  panel 

Streamed  the  red  autumn  sun. 

— Longfellow:  "The  Duke  of  Wellington." 


Dissyllabic    rhyme    used    continuously    lends 
more  readily  to  light  and  humorous  themes: 


itself 


At  seven  you  nick  it. 

Give  card — get  wine  ticket. 

Wall-  round  through  the  Babel 

From  table  to  table. 

To  find— a  hard  matter — 

Your  name  on  a  platter. 

— Hood:  "A  Public  Dinner." 

Triple  Rhyme. — Three  syllables  rhymed;  this  form 
is  rare  and  on  account  of  its  artificiality  is  most  suited 
to  humorous  and  satirical  verse. 


RHYME  AND  THE  REASON 


39 


But— oh!  ye  lords  of  ladies  intellectual 

Inform  us  truly,  have  they  not  hen-pecked-you-all. 

— Bvbon;  "Don  Juan." 

White  treading  down  rose  and  ranunculus 
You  Tommy-make-room-for-your-uncle-us, 
Troop!  all  of  you,  man  or  homunculus. 

— Browning:  "Pachiarotto." 

By  avoiding  artificial  and  forced  combinations  and 
alternating  this  triple  rhytne  with  single  rhyme  a  serums 
graceful  effect  may  be  secured,  as  in: 

Take  her  up  tenderly. 
Lift  her  with  care, 
Fashioned  so  slenderly. 
Young,  and  so  fair. 

— Hood:  "The  Bridge  of  Sighs." 

Internal  Rhyme. — Also  called  middle  or  sectional 
rhyme,  is  the  rhyming  of  a  word  in  the  middle  of  a  line 
with  the  word  at  the  end.  This  serves  to  quicken  the 
movement  of  the  verse  and  also  to  accentuate  the  effect, 
whether  it  be  serious,  humorous,  weird  or  graceful. 

And  ice  masX-high  came  floating  hy. 

— Coleridge:  "The  Ar.:icnt  Mariner." 


The  splendor  falls  on  castle  walls. 

— Tennyson:  "Bugle  Song." 

Once  upon  the  midnight  dreary,  while  I  pondered  weak  and 
weary.  — Poe:  "The  Raven." 

He  hums  and  he  hankers,  he  frets  and  he  cankers. 

— Burns:  "The  Auld  Man." 


40 


POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 


Imperfect  Myme.— Occasionally  are  found,  used  with 
good  effect,  rhymes  which  do  not  conform  to  the  regular 
rule.  They  are  merely  consonantal  rhymes.  It  will 
be  noticed,  however,  that  the  preceding  vowel  sounds 
although  not  identical  bear  a  close  vocal  relation  to 
each  other: 

Hail  to  thee  blithe  spirit! 

Bird  thou  never  wert. 
That  from  heaven,  or  near  it, 

Pourest  thy  full  heart 
In  profuse  strains  of  unpremeditated  art. 

—Shelley:  "The  Skylark." 

Here  Shelley  rhymes  spirit  and  near  it;  wert,  heart, 
and  art. 

A  careful  study  of  rhymes  will  show  that  certain  forms 
of  rhyme  are  suited  to  certain  themes — there  is  a  reason 
for  every  rhyme. 


Suggestions  for  Study  and  Practice 

1.  Collect  examples  of  the  various  kinds  of  rhyme 
mentioned  in  this  chapter.  For  unusual  combinations 
see  Browning,  Tom  Hood,  Byron,  and  also  limericks 

.nd  humorous  newspaper  or  magazine  verse. 

2.  Try  writing  verse  containing  examples  of  the 
various  kinds  of  rhyme. 

3.  Collect  examples  of  imperfect  rhyme.  Note  care- 
fully the  cognate  relation  of  the  vowel  sounds. 


CHAPTER  VH 
VERSE-FORMS  AND  RHYME-SCHEMES 


A  COMBINATION  of  lines  grouped  together  to 
form  a  unit  of  measurement  of  a  poem  is  called 
a  stanza.  There  is  usually  a  regular  arrangement 
of  the  meter  and  rhyme  within  the  sUnza  and  the 
rhythmic  effect  of  the  whole  corresponds  to  the  complete 
tune  of  a  selection  of  music.  Considered  rhetorically 
the  stanza  is  analogous  to  the  paragraph  of  a  prose 
composition  and  deals  with  some  separate  topic  of  the 
main  theme.  Any  unusual  or  elaborate  form  of  stanza 
is  adopted  for  the  purpose  producing  of  sijecial  melodic 
effects. 

The  stanza  ranges  in  length  from  two  to  nine  lines. 
The  Couplet  as  a  separate  stanza  form  is  not  very  common. 

A  wind  came  up  out  of  the  sea, 

And  said:  "Oh,  mists,  make  room  for  me  " 

— Longfellow:  "Daybreak." 

Knowledge  comes  but  Wisdom  lingers,  and  I  lingeron  the  shore. 
And  the  individual  withers,  and  the  world  is  more  and  more, 
— Tennyson:  "Locksley  Hall." 

The  Triplet  or  three-line  stanza  is  also  rare: 

A  still  small  voice  spake  unto  me, 
"Thou  art  so  full  misery, 
Were  it  not  better  not  to  be?" 

—Tennyson:  "The  Two  Voices." 
41 


i 


42 


POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 


The  Quatrain,  or  four-line  stanza,  is  a  favorite  in 
lyric  poetry.    The  common  rhyme-scheme  is  i,  a,  i,  2. 

Full  many  a  gem  of  purest  ray  serene 
The  dark,  unfathomed  caves  of  ocean  bear; 

Full  may  a  flower  is  bom  to  blush  unseen 
And  waste  its  sweetness  on  the  desert  air. 
—Gray:  "Elegy  in  a  Country  Churchyard." 

In  a  very  long  poem  this  alternating  rhyme  becomes 
monotonously  sing-song.  A  change  of  the  rhyme 
scheme  to  i,  2,  2,  i,  as  used  in  Tennyson's  "In  Me- 
moriam,"  entirely  removes  this  tendency: 

"Sweet  after  showers  ambrosial  air 
That  roUest  from  the  gorgeous  gloom 
Of  evening  over  brake  and  bloom 
And  meadow,  slowly  breathing  bare." 

Another  device  for  subordinating  the  rhyme  effect, 
when  thought  rather  than  form  is  the  aim  of  the  poem, 
is  the  use  of  over-running  lines:  that  is,  lines  in  which 
the  pauses  come  in  the  middle  rather  than  at  the  end. 
The  above  extract  illustrates  this;  Browning's,  "My 
Last  Duchess,"  is  another  excellent  example  of  the 
effect  of  over-run  lines.  Here  one  scarcely  notices  the 
rhyme  at  all. 

There  are  many  variations  of  the  Quatrain  stanza 
depending  upon  the  number  of  measures  used  in  a  line. 
The  Ballad  stanza  is  very  common;  it  consists  of  alter- 
nate iambic  tetrameter  and  iambic  trimeter  lines: 

Lars  Porsena  of  Clusium 

By  the  nine  Gods  he  swore 
That  the  great  house  of  Tarquin 

Should  suffer  wrong  no  more. 

— MACAnLAV:  "Horatius." 


VERSE-FORMS  AND  RHYME-SCHEMES 


43 


There  is  a  swing  to  the  ballad  stanza  which  adapts 
it  readily  to  stirring  music. 

The  five-line  stanza  is  not  very  common  except  when 
formed  from  a  quatrain  with  an  added  refrain.  Shelley 
uses  a  five-line  stanza  in  the  "Skylark:" 

The  pale  purple  even 

Melts  around  thy  flight, 
Like  a  star  of  heaven 
In  the  broad  daylight 

Thou  art  unseen  and  yet  I  hear  thy  shrill  delight 

Here  the  rhyme-scheme  is  i,  2,  i,  2,  2,  the  first 
four  lines  rhyming  like  the  ordinary  quatrain. 

The  six-line  stanza  may  be  regarded  as  a  quatrain 
with  an  added  couplet,  rhyming  i,  2,  i,  2,  3,  3. 

The  minstrels  played  their  Christinas  tune 
To-night  beneath  my  cottage  eaves; 

While  smitten  by  a  lofty  moon, 
The  encircling  laurels,  thick  with  leaves. 

Gave  back  a  rich  and  dazzling  sheen 

That  overpowered  their  natural  green. 
— ^Wordsworth:  "To  Rev.  Dr.  Wordsworth." 


Some  six-line  stanzas  appear  to  be  but  groupings  of 
three  couplets  rhyming  regidarly: 

At  Aerschot  up  leaped  of  a  sudden  the  sun, 
And  against  him  the  cattle  stood  black  every  one, 
To  stare  thro'  the  mist  at  us  galloping  past, 
And  I  saw  my  stout  galloper  Roland  at  last. 
With  resolute  shoulders,  each  butting  away 
The  haze  as  some  bluff  river  headlong  its  spray. 

— Browning:  "Ghent  to  Aix." 


44 


POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 


The  Ottava  Rima  is  an  eight-lined  stanza  with  two 
alternating  rhymes  in  the  first  six  lines,  and  ending 
with  a  rhymed  couplet: 

This  lady  never  slept  but  lay. in  trance 
All  night  within  the  fountain— as  in  sL„^. 

Its  emerald  crags  glowed  in  her  beauty's  glance. 
Through  the  green  splendour  of  the  water's  deep 

She  saw  the  constellations  reel  and  dance 
Like  fireflies— and  withal  did  ever  keep 

The  tenor  of  her  contemplations  calm, 

With  open  eyes,  closed  feet  and  folded  palm. 

—Shelley:  "The  Witch  of  Atlas." 

An  eight-line  stanza  is  often  formed  of  two  quatrains 
bound  together  by  the  rhyming  of  the  last  lines  of  each 
quatrain: 

Beneath  these  fruit-tree  boughs  that  shed 
Their  snow-white  blossoms  on  my  head. 
With  brightest  sunshine  round  me  spread 

Of  spring's  unclouded  weather. 
In  this  sequestered  nook,  how  sweet 
To  sit  upon  my  orchard-seat 
And  flowers  and  birds  once  more  to  greet, 

My  last  year's  friends  together. 

—Wordsworth:  "The  Green  Linnet." 

Notice  also  here  the  quickening  effect  resulting  from 
the  rhymes  weather  and  together  ending  in  unaccented 
syllables,  while  the  other  rhymes  of  the  stanza  end  in 
accented  syllables. 

The  Spenserian  stanza,  so  called  because  first  used 
by  Edmund  Spenser,  consists  of  nine  lines,  rhyming 
1.  '>  I.  ».  a,  3.  2,  3,  3.  The  ninth  line  contams  an  extra 
foot  and  thus  adds  a  stately  swing  to  the  whole  stanza. 


VERSE-FORMS  AND  RHYME-SCHEMES  45 

Compared  with  the  Ottava  Rima  its  greater  variety 
of  rhyme  enhances  the  melodic  effect: 

There  was  a  sound  of  revelry  by  night, 
And  Belgium's  capital  had  gathered  then, 
Her  Beauty  and  her  Chivalry  and  bright 
The  lamps  shone  o'er  fair  women  and  brave  men; 
A  thousand  hearts  beat  happily  and  when 
Music  arose  with  its  voluptuous  swell. 
Soft  eyes  looked  love  to  eyes  that  spake  again 
And  all  went  meny  as  a  marriage  bell; 
But  hush!  a  deep  sound  strikes  like  a  rUing  knell. 
—Byron:  "Childe  Harold." 

The  Spenserian  stanza  is  also  employed  by  Tennyson 
in  "The  Lotos  Eaters." 

In  long  poems,  particularly  in  narrative  or  dramatic 
verse,  the  stanza  form  gives  way  to  a  sort  of  paragraphic 
structure,  the  subdivisions  corresponding  to  certain 
logical  divisions  of  the  narrative.  The  verse  forms 
used  in  this  way  are: 

The  Short  Couplet:  iambic  tetrameter  lines  rhyming 
in  pairs: 

There  let  the  pealing  organ  blow 

To  the  full-voiced  quire  here  below, 

In  service  high  and  anthems  clear 

As  many  with  sweetness  thro'  mine  ear 

Dissolve  me  into  esctasies 

And  bring  all  Heaven  before  mine  eyes. 

—Milton:  "II  Penseroso." 

The  Heroic  Couplet:  iambic  pentameter  lines, 
rhyming  in  pairs.  This  is  the  favorite  meter  of  the 
Pope-Dryden  prose-poetry  school  of  poets: 


i 


46  POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 

Hope  springs  eternal  in  the  human  breast; 
Man  never  is  but  always  to  be  blest; 
The  soul,  uneasy  and  confined  from  home 
Rests  and  expatiates  in  a  life  to  come. 

— Popk:  "Essay  on  Man." 

The  Alexandrine  consists  of  iambic  lines  of  six  feet, 
rhyming  in  pairs. 

The  English  hexameter  is  unrhymed,  in  lines  of  six 
feet.  It  is  slow  and  stately  in  movement  and  is  an 
imitation  of  the  Latin  and  Greek  dactylic  hexameter: 

Into  the  open  air  John  Alden,  perplexed  and  bewildered, 
Rushed  like  a  man  insane  and  wandered  alone  by  the  sea- 
side. 

—Longfellow:   "Courtship  of  Miles  Standish." 

Blank  verse  is  the  name  applied  to  the  unrhymed 
iambic  pentameter  which  is  much  used  in  drama: 

This  was  the  noblest  Roman  of  them  all; 

All  the  conspirators,  save  only  he 

Did  that  they  did  in  envy  of  Great  Csesar; 

He  only,  in  a  general  honest  thought 

Of  common  good  to  all  made  one  of  them. 

— Shakespeabe;  "Julius  Cssar." 

The  regular  sonnet  is  a  fixed  form  of  fourteen  lines, 
divided  into  two  parts,  the  octave  and  sestet.  It  must 
deal  with  only  one  main  thought  or  sentiment.  In  the 
octave  the  motive  or  theme  is  developed  and  the  sestet 
is  a  sort  of  commentary  or  reflection  upon  the  octave. 
The  octave  is  a  sort  of  crescendo  passage  and  the  sestet 
a  diminuendo.  The  prevailing  rhyme-scheme  is  i.  2^ 
3,  I,  I,  2,  2,  I,  3,  4,  5,  3,  4,  5.    Lofty,  concentrated 


VERSE-FORMS  AND  RHYME-SCHEMES  47 

thought  and  noble  sentiment  are  necessary  for  the  mak- 
ing of  a  successful  sonnet. 

The  world  is  too  much  with  us;  late  and  soon, 
Getting  and  spending,  we  lay  waste  our  powera: 
Little  we  see  in  Nature  that  is  ours; 
We  have  given  our  hearts  away,  a  sordid  boon  I 
This  sea  that  bares  her  bosom  to  the  moon; 
The  winds  that  will  be  howling  at  all  hours 
And  are  up-gathered  now  like  sleeping  Howers; 
For  this,  for  everything  we  are  out  of  tune; 
It  moves  us  not.    Great  God!  I'd  rather  be 
A  pagan  suckled  in  a  creed  outworn; 
So  might  I,  standing  on  the  pleasant  lea, 
Have  glimpses  that  would  make  me  less 'forlorn 
Have  sight  of  Proteus  coming  from  the  sea,       ' 
Or  hear  old  Triton  blow  his  wreathed  horn. 

— Wordsworth. 

Suggestions  for  Study  and  Practice 

1.  Collect  examples  of  various  Jtinds  of  stanzas,  (o) 
from  standard  authors,  (i)  from  recent  magazine  verse. 

2.  CoUect  examples  of  different  rhyme-schemes  with 
similar  stanza  forms.    Note  any  difference  in  effect. 

3.  Study  the  construction  of  several  sonnets  as  to 
metrical  form,  and  also  as  to  thought  arrangement. 

4.  Collect  examples  of  over-run  lines  and  observe 
effect.     (Refer  to  Browning.) 

S-  Break  up  a  poem  written  in  quatrains,  six-     or 
eight-line  stanzas,  into  couplets  or  triplets. 

6.  Rewrite  a  quatrain,  altering  the  rhyme-scheme. 

7.  Take  some  narrative  poem  in  hexameter  and  throw 
it  into  ballad  form. 


Hi 
15 


48 


POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 


8.  Take  a  poem  written  in  quatrains  and  by  changing 
the  rhyme-scheme  cast  it  in  octaves. 

9.  Write  a  series  of  sonnets. 

10.  Draw  up  a  sort  of  dummy  of  several  types  of 
stanzas,  showing  the  syllabic  construction  of  the  measures. 
Then  build  up  poems  on  these  rhythmical  dummies. 


^- 


1; 


CHAPTER  VIII 
THE  SUBJECT-MATTER  OF  POETRY 

IN  the  treatment  of  the  subject-matter  of  poetry  we 
recognize  two  distinct  attitudes  on  the  part  of  the 
poet.  He  either  presents  to  us  thoughts,  and  emo- 
tions regarding  them,  which  originate  within  his  own 
mmd  or  he  tells  us  of  persons  and  events  outside  of 
himseU.  The  first  is  the  subjective  treatment  of  mat- 
ter; the  second,  objective.  Subjective  poetry  is  Lyric 
wh.le  objective  poetry  may  be  (a)  Epic,  in  which  the 
author  narrates  the  experiences  of  the  persons  of  the 
stopr,  (A)  Dramatic,  in  which  he  creates  the  personages 
and  lets  them  tell  their  own  story. 

The  L.m  of  a  story  is  always  closely  dependent 
upon  Its  meaning  and  matter.  The  typical  lyric  poem 
IS  short,  concentrated  and  strongly  emotional.  As  the 
lync  of  earher  times  was  always  sung,  usually  by  its 
composer,  the  modem  lyric  retains  as  much  as  possible 
m  the  way  of  musical  effects.  It  has  practically  no 
limitations  as  to  metric  form  and  adopts  any  complexities 
of  rhythm  and  rhyme  which  may  be  in  keeping  with 
the  thought  and  emotion  to  be  expressed.  Objective 
poems  are  much  longer  and  employ  verse  forms  which 
wiU  permit  of  sustained  action  without  becoming  weari- 
some to  the  ear.  In  many  cases  the  rhyme  is  dropped 
as  m  heroic  blank  verse-the  iambic  pentameter-or  in 

40 


m 


50 


Pi^.NTS  ABOUT  POETRY 


It;, 


lih; 


the  dactylic  hexameter.  When  rhyme  is  used,  its 
effect  is  often  subordinated  by  the  use  of  run-over  lines. 
As  in  subjective  or  lyric  poetry  the  writer  is  at  liberty 
to  treat  his  own  themes  in  his  own  way,  it  naturaUy 
foUows  that  the  varieties  of  lyric  poetry  are  incapable 
of  any  rigid  classification.  Epic  poetry  conforms  more 
closely  to  regularity  of  form,  yet  even  here  the  -.'ealth 
of  subject-matter  is  so  great  and  the  aspects  of  treatment 
so  varied  that  the  classification  can  be  made  only  in  a 

broad  way. 

I.  The  chief  forms  of  Epic  poetry  are: 

I.  The  National  Epic,  which  is  usuaUy  a  coUection 
of  narratives  in  the  form  of  a  song  or  chant,  handed 
down  from  generation  to  generation  and  molded  together 
into  a  connected  poem.  In  this  manner  the  Greek 
Iliad  and  Odyssey  and  the  Anglo-Saxon  Beowulf  had 
their  origin.  The  folk-song  and  ballad  of  later  date 
are  but  modified  forms  of  the  greater  epic;  these  are 
frequently  lyrical  as  to  metrical  form  but  narrative  in 

treatment.  , 

a.  Legendary  poems:  Layamon's  "Brut,  Chaucer  s 
"Canterbury  Tales,"  LongfeUow's  "Evangeline,"  are 
examples.    They  are  narrative  poems  based  on  historic 

legend.  . 

3.  The  Allegory.  This  marks  a  step  toward  original 
invention,  instead  of  the  reproduction  of  past  occurrences. 
The  Allegory  embodies  certain  moral  teachings.  The 
finest  example  in  English  literature  is  Spenser's  "Faerie 

Queene." 

4.  Reflective  poetry  is  the  moral  lesson  without  any 
aUegorical   setting.    This   approaches   too   nearly    to 


THE  SUBJECT-MATTER  OF  POETRY 


51 


pure  Mrmonizing  to  be  of  a  high  order  of  poetry.  Ex- 
amples are  Pope's  "Essay  on  Man,"  and  Cowper's 
"Task." 

5.  Descriptive  poetry.  This  is  usually  combined 
with  the  reflective.  The  descriptive  portion  forms 
a  very  effective  background  or  setting  in  almost  any 
type  of  poem.  Goldsmith's  "Traveller,"  and  "The 
Deserted  Village"  are  two  well-known  poems  of  this 
class. 

6.  Pastoral  poetry  is  a  sort  of  combination  of  narrative, 
descriptive  and  dramatic.  In  it  conditions  of  nature 
or  society  are  described  from  the  simple  aspect  of  rustic 
life.  "  The  Idyll "  is  a  variety  of  pastoral  poetry.  Bums' 
"Cotter's  Saturday  Night"  is  a  good  example.  Tenny- 
son's so-called  "Idylls of  the  King"  really  belong  to  the 
legendary  epic. 

7.  Satirical  and  Humorous  poetry.  The  purpose  of 
the  satire  is  to  ridicule  persons  or  events  and  indirectly 
inculcate  some  moral  lesson.  Humorous  poetry  has 
partly  the  same  purpose  as  satirical,  but  serves  also  to 
amuse. 

II.  As  lyrical  poetry  comes  from  and  appeals  to  the 
feelings  it  may  be  divided  according  to  the  nature  of 
the  feelings  aroused.  The  emotions  may  be  (a),  simple, 
the  natural  expression  of  immediate  feeling;  (6)  enthu- 
siastic, from  which  arises  the  dithyramb  or  ode;  or  (c) 
reflective,  in  which  the  intellectual  mingles  with  the 
purely  emotional.  The  modem  lyric  belongs  largely 
to  the  latter  type,  consisting  usually  of  a  descriptive 
setting  with  the  moral  reflection  thereon. 

Considering  the  subject-matter  of  the  lyric  rather 


>  1] 


52 


POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 


than  the  emotions  expressed  we  have  the  following 
types: 

I.  Th  jacred  Lyric,  to  which  belong  hymns,  psalms, 
sacred  songs  and  odes. 

t.  The  Patriotic  Lyric,  national  hymn-  expressive 
of  love  for  one's  native  land.  Narrative  lyrics  of  war 
are  included  here. 

3.  Love-Lyrics.  There  is  such  a  multiplicity  of 
these  that  a  book  might  be  written  in  the  attempt  to 
classify  them. 

4.  Nature  Lyrics.  These  are  usually  of  the  type 
already  described  under  the  reflective  lyric,  although 
the  ode,  sonnet  and  other  metrical  forms  are  used. 

5.  Lyrics  of  Grief.  The  elegy  deals  with  grave 
problems  of  life  and  death  in  a  general  way;  the  threnody 
commemorates  the  death  of  an  individual.  Gray's 
Elegy  is  well  known.  Milton's  "Lycidas"  abd  Ten- 
nyson's "  In  Memoriam,"  are  examples  of  the  threnody. 

6.  Convivial  Lyrics  deal  with  the  praise  of  wine  o' 
good-fellowship.  For  examples  see  Thomas  Moo'; 
and  Robert  Bums. 

7.  Didactic  Lyrics.  To  this  class  belong  poems 
where  the  moral  application  is  the  strong  feature.  The 
appeal  to  the  emotions  is  almost  entirely  absent.  The 
metrical  treatment  is  lyrical,  but  from  a  literary  stand- 
point it  is  only  a  short  remove  from  actual  prose.  Observe 
here  Wordsworth'-  "Ode  to  Duty.'  Just  how  far 
reflection  should  lead  toward  the  didactic  depends 
upon  its  naturalness;  when  we  feel  that  the  writer  has 
chosen  the  subject  in  order  to  follow  out  a  certain 
theme — when  in  a  sense  the  writer  starts  out  with  a  text — 


THE  SUBJECT-MATTER  OF   POETRY 


63 


we  ore  likely  to  object  to  being  preached  at.  On  the 
other  hand  many  popular  poems  of  a  reflective  char- 
acter teach  just  as  certainly  some  moral  lesson,  but  they 
are  constructed  so  as  to  lead  the  reader  naturally  up  to 
the  reflection  of  his  own  accord. 

8.  The  Lyrical  Ballad  somewhat  re.scmbles  ihe  Folk- 
song, but  is  individual  in  its  nature.  The  personal 
touch  of  the  writer  is  plainly  noticeable.  Soir.e  examples 
are  Longfellow's  "Old  Clock  on  the  Stairs,"  "The 
Warden  of  the  Cinque  Ports." 

Ill  Dramatic  poetry  may  embody  qualities  of  the 
epic  and  lyric,  but  it  is  more  impersonal  than  either. 
The  poet  may  tell  us  his  story  while  we  sit  round  in  an 
imaginary  circle  and  listen;  but  the  dramatist  must 
create  his  characters  and  let  them  act  out  the  story 
while  he  remains  invisible.  The  events  of  the  action 
must  be  the  natural  outcome  of  the  character  of  the 
persons  concerned  in  that  action — the  deeds  must  be 
consistent  with  the  personality  of  the  author  and  a 
distinct  thread  of  cause  and  effect  must  unite  all  the 
subordinate  incidents  of  the  drama. 

In  form,  a  dramatic  poem  may  be  dialogue  partici- 
pated in  by  many  characters,  or  it  may  be  monologue, 
in  which  the  speech  of  a  single  person  conveys  the  whole 
story. 

As  to  subject-matter  and  emotional  effect,  dramatic 
poetry  is  divided  into  tragedy  and  comedy.  In  tragedy 
there  is  a  conflict  and  final  overthrow  of  some  indi'-'dual; 
in  comedy,  there  are  obstacles  and  complications,  the 
overcoming  of  which  causes  amusement  and  not  pathetic 
emotions  as  in  tragedy.      No  drama  is,  however,  all 


64 


POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 


tragic,  ai  the  emotional  effect  is  usually  relieved  and 
lightened  by  the  introduction  of  comic  situations  and 
effects.  On  the  other  hand  the  obstacles  which  are 
necessary,  as  the  plot-interest  of  comedy,  often  approach 
perilously  near  to  pathos  and  tragedy. 

Much  drama  is  not  poetry,  but  prose.  Tragedy  is 
usually  written  in  verse,  comedy  frequently  employs 
prose.   , 


•  V 


ii; 


Suggestions  for  Studv  and  Practice 

1.  Study  Tviems  which  are  types  of  the  various  classes 
here  discussed.  Read  at  least  a  portion  of  an  English 
translv.-on  of  the  "Iliad,"  the  "Odyssey,"  "Beowulf," 
aid  dummarize  the  story.  Read  Milton's  "Paradise 
Lost,"  Book  I.  Study  the  metric  form  in  all  details. 
Draw  up  a  synopsis  of  the  story. 

2.  Study  carefully  and  classify  under  proper  head- 
ing: "The  Star-Spangled  Banner";  "Nearer,  My  God 
to  Thee";  "Highland  Mary";  "Battle of  the  Baltic"; 
Bums'  "To  a  Mouse";  Shelley's  "To  a  Skylark'; 
Gray's"Bard";  Longfellow's  "Hiawatha";  Tennyson's 
"Vision";  Tennyson's  "Dora";  Longfellow's  "Wreck 
of  the  Hesperus";  Lowell's  "Biglow  Papers." 

3.  Take  some  lyric  of  reflection  and  trace  out  (a) 
the  descriptive  setting,  (6)  the  moral  lesson. 

4.  Classify  several  poems  which  have  appeared  re- 
cendy  an  magazines.  Draw  up  an  outline  of  the  metric 
form  and  a  synopsis  of  the  thought  or  story. 

5.  Read  Shakespeare's"  Julius  Caesar"  or"Macbeth" 
as  an  example  of  Tragedy,  and  "The  Tempest"  or 


THE  SUBJECT-MATTER  OF  POETRY 


S5 


"As  You  Like  It,"  as  example  of  Comedy.  Make  a 
study  of  the  chief  characters  and  note  in  what  respect 
the  action  is  a  result  of  the  character  of  the  personaf  i. 
of  the  play.  Observe  the  use  of  prose  in  these  p\t,- 
in  certain  scenes  ar^  account  for  it.  Draw  up  an  out- 
line of  the  main  and  subordinate  actions  and  show  the 
unity. 

6.  Describe  a  calm,  moonlight  scene,  and  add  a 
moral  lesson,  thus  making  a  reflective  lyric.  (For  a 
model,  refer  to  Longfellow's,  "The  Bridge.") 

7.  Write  a  narrative  poem,  taking  your  subject  some 
event  in  the  history  of  your  nation.     (Use  ballad  form.) 

8.  Write  a  short,  humorous  poem  basing  it  on  some 
humorous  sketch  in  the  joke  column  of  a  magazine 
or  newspaper. 

9.  Write  a  commemorative  ode  for  some  national 
holiday. 

10.  Write  a  dramatic  monologue.  (For  model  see 
Browning's,  "My  Last  Duchess.") 


CHAPTER  IX 


THE  MECHANISM  OF  VERSE 


IN  a  recently  published  volume  of  poems  (Preludes 
by  John  Daniel  Logan:  William  Briggs,  Toronto), 
the  author  includes  an  essay  on  verse-making. 
He  says:  "The  strictly  musical  element  in  verse  is  not 
a  certain  quality  in  the  tones  of  the  syllable  or  of  the 
rhymes,  but  primarily  rhythm.  Just  as  much,  too,  an 
efficient  means  to  the  actual  process  of  poetical  com- 
position is  not  imagination  and  knowledge,  but  a  rhythm 
actually  singing  itself  persistently  in  the  mind."  He 
recommends  as  an  aid  to  verse-making,  the  employ- 
ment of  the  "  rhythmical  dummy  "  and  goes  on  to  remark : 
"The  dummy  itself  is  a  mechanical  form.  It  had, 
however,  a  mental  counterpart  in  an  inward  ihythm; 
and  this  inward  rhythm  is  at  the  moment  of  composi- 
tion actually  pulsing  through  the  mind,  or  if  not,  can 
be  caught  up  again  by  way  of  the  rhythmical  dummy." 
Now,  the  laws  of  rhythm  are  simply  these:  i.  The 
units  of  sound  (syllables)  must  be  grouped  together 
according  to  the  time  required  for  their  utterance.  2. 
The  time-groups  are  marked  off  by  a  regularly  recurring 
stress  or  accent.  The  rhythm  of  any  poem  corresponds 
to  the  bare  lilt  of  a  musical  tune  and  the  rhythmical 
dummy  is  a  device  by  which  these  time-groups  and 
accented  syllables  are  marked. 

66 


THE  MECHANISM  OF  VERSE 


57 


Let  us  construct  a  rhythmical  dummy  of  the  stanza- 
form  used  in  Gray's  Elegy.  Reading  the  stanza  slowly, 
letting  it  break  up  naturally  into  time-groups,  and  mark- 
ing the  accents,  we  get: 

The  cu'r  |  few  to'lls  |  the  kne'il  |  of  pa'rt- 1  ing  day', 

I  he  lo'w- 1  ing  her'd  |  winds  slo'w- 1  ly  o'e'r  |  the  lea' 

1  he  plo  w  I  man  hom'e- 1  ward  plo'ds  |  his  wea'r- 1  y  way* 
And  lea'ves  |  the  worl'd  |  to  dar'k- 1  ness  a'nd  |  to  me'. 

The  lilt  or  dummy  may  be  constructed  thus: 

Tra  la'  |  la  la'  |  la  la'  |  la  la'  |  la  la' 
Tra  la'  |  la  la'  |  la  la'  |  la  la'  |  la  la', 
Tra  ii'  I  la  U'  I  U  la'  |  la  la'  |  U  la', 
Tra  la'  |  la  la'  1 1,-  la'  |  la  la'  |  la  la'. 

The  meter  of  this  stanza  is  perfecUy  regular,  each 
verse  (line)  being  exactly  the  same.  The  result  is  a 
monotone,  slow  and  dignified  in  movement,  in  keeping 
with  the  feelings  and  ideas  expressed.  The  only  varia- 
tion from  this  form  through  the  whole  poem  is  the 
occasional  addition  of  a  syllable  to  a  time-group,  like 
the  insertion  of  a  grace  note  in  a  musical  bar: 

Now    fa'deslthe    gli'm- 1  mer-ing    la'nd- 1  scape    on' I  the 

sig'ht. 
Tra  la'  |  la  U'  |  la-la  la'  |  U  la'  |  la  la'. 

The  group  la-la  requires  only  the  same  time  for 
utterance  as  the  unit  la. 

There  is  no  reason  why  the  ear  should  not  recognize 
rhythms  just  as  it  does  musical  airs  which  it  has  heard 
several  times.  Here  is  the  dummy  of  a  rhythm  found 
in  one  of  Kipling's  ballads: 


68 


POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 


Tr'ala 

Tr'aUl 

Tr'ala  I 

Tr'aUl 

Tr'aUl 

Tr'aUl 

Tr'aUl 

Tr'aU 

Tr'aU 

Tr'aU 


U'U 

U'Ul 
U'U  I 
lU'Ul 
I  U'Ul 
I  U'U 
I  U'U 
I  U'U 
I  U'U 

u 


U'U 

u'  u 

U'U 


iU'U 

I  U'U 

U'U 


U'  U I U' 
U'  U 1 U'  u 
IU'U 
U'  U 1 U'  u 
lU'UlU' 
IU'U  I  U'U 
lU'UlU'. 


The  words  of  the  ballad  run: 


..  4.  T  Mt  the  Halls  at  Lumley,  rose  the  vision  of  a  comely 

Maid  tt^n  w°"*'PP«'l  '»"-'"y'  "*'**'  "'*  ''"" 
from  afar,"  etc. 

Anyone  who  has  read  Foe's  "Raven"  can  teU  where 
KiXg  got  his  rhythm:  when  he  wrote  this  ballad  he 
SSy  used  the  rhythm  of  "The  Raven"  in  buddmg 
up^  form  of  his  poem;  and,  whether  consciously  or 
I,he  employed  the  device  of  the  "rhythmical  dummy 

Compare  the  two  poems;  a  line  from  each  wiU  suffice. 

X  Onc'e  up- 1  on'  a  1  m'id-night  |  dr'eary,  I  as'  1 1  p'ondered 
.  A's  llr;;"'th:iH:^t''at|Lu'mley|ro'se  the  |  Vision  | 
o'f  a  I  co'mely. 
The  identity  of  rhyme-scheme  strengthens  the  tone- 
resemblance  of  the  two  poems.  But  KipUng  did  not 
slavishly  imitate  Poe;  in  the  dummy  you  find  nothmg 
to  correspond  to  the  melancholy  refram. 

Quo'th  the  1  RaVen  |  neVer  |  mo're. 


THE  MECHANISM  OF  VERSE 


59 


Kipling  left  o£F  this  refrain  because  it  would  not  have 
been  in  keeping  with  the  light,  humorous  spirit  of  his 
love  ballad. 

We  suspect  that  Kipling  on  other  occasions  practised 
with  dummies  built  on  the  rhythms  of  other  writer's 
poems.    Compare: 

I.  Wh'ere  the  |  so'ber  |  co'Iored  |  cu'lti- 1  va'tor  |  s'miles 
O'n  his  I  by'les; 
Wh'ere  the  |  c'holer- 1  a',  the  |  c/lone  |  a'nd  the  |  c'row 
Com'e  and  |  go'. 

— Kipling. 

a.  Whe're  the  |  q'uiet  |  col'ored  |  en'd  of  |  e'vening  |  s'miles 
M'iles  and  |  m'iles 
On'  the  I  s'olit- 1  a'ly  |  p'astures  |  w'here  our  |  s'heep 
Ha'lf  a  I  sl'eep. 

— Browning. 

Let  us  see  how  the  dummy  will  help  us  in  constructive 
work.  Taking  the  rhythm  of  Gray's  Elegy  as  a  basis, 
let  us  write  a  stanza  about  the  warning  of  ships  by  a  fog 
bell.  The  ideas  to  be  expressed  in  the  stanza  are: 
The  bell,  as  it  rings,  sounds  a  warning  over  the  sea, 
through  the  mist,  and  we  trust  this  warning  will  be 
heard  by  all  who  are  sailing  near  this  rocky  coast. 
Here  is  the  stanza: 

The  be'U  |  rings  ou't  |  its  wa'r- 1  ning  o'er  |  the  se'a, 
Thro'  mi'st  |  and  gloo'm  |  it  sou'nds  |  its  boo'm- 1  ing  n'ote. 
Oh,  ma'y  |  its  mes's- 1  age  rea'ch  |  to  a'U  |  that  b'e, 
tTpo'n  I  this  ro'ck  |  bound  co'ast  |  in  shi'ps  |  afloa't. 

Just  here  we  may  point  out  that  the  rhythmic  accent 
must  correspond  with  the  natural  accent,  and  also  that 


»:5: 


00  POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 

this  accent  should  faU  upon  words  of  some  importance 
amd  not  upon  connectives  and  particles,  such  as:    a, 
the,  of,  to,  etc.    And  also,  the  rhyming  words  should 
be  words  of  rather  greater  value  in  the  matter  of  expres- 
sion  than   the   unrhymed   words.    Considenng  these 
points,  our  stanza  is,  no  doubt,  rather  weak  in  Us  end- 
ing of  the  third  line;  grammatically,  too,  it  is  incorrect, 
"who  be"  should  be  written  instead  of  "that  be,"  but 
this  would  make  a  more  awkward  phonic  combination. 
Since  it  is  difficult  to  work  in  a  suitable  rhyme  for 
"sea,"  let  us  change  this  to  the  word  "deep": 
The  beU  |  rings  out  |  its  wnm- 1  ing  o'er  |  the  deep. 
Thro'  mist  j  and  gloom  |  it  sounds  |  its  boom- 1  ing  note. 
Oh,  may  I  its  mess- 1  age  serve  |  to  safe- 1  ly  keep 
Those  on  |  this  rock  |  bound  coast  1  in  ships  1  afloat. 
Another  method  of  composition  is  to  choose  a  theme, 
and  see  how  it  wiU  shape  itself  as  to  form.    Suppose  the 
idea  to  be  worked  up  is:  The  modern  poem  is  made  up 
of  a  short  descriptive  setting,  a  few  thoughts  on  love 
or  phUosophy,  and  a  moral  appUcation.    We  wish,  then, 
to  write  "The  Recipe  for  a  Modem  Poem."    It  is  not 
to  be  serious,  yet  hardly  humorous.    How  shall  we 
begin  ?  Remembering, ' '  First,  catch  your  hare,"  we  may 

start  out: 

Ta'ke  a  |  li'ttle  1  pa'tch  of  |  Na'ture 
Tr'a  la  |la'  U  I  la'  la  |  la'  la. 
The  movement  of  the  opening  line  is  fairly  quick, 
the  unaccented  syUable  at  the  end  being  responsible 
for  this.    To  quieten  it  down  a  littie,  we  can  build  the 

the  next  line: 

Tr'a  U  I  la'  la  I  la'  U  I  la'. 


THE  MECHANISM  OF  VERSE  61 

ending  with  a  foot  of  one  long  accented  syllable.  Put 
the  "love"  idea  in  here: 

An'd  a  |  li'ttle  |  bi't  of  |  lov'e, 

seems  to  follow  very  naturally.  If  we  make  our  stanza 
a  quatrain,  we  can  now  complete  our  dummy,  as  the 
meter  of  the  third  and  fourth  lines  must  be  the  same  as 
that  of  the  first  and  second.    The  lilt  of  the  stanza  is: 

Tr'a  la  |  la'  la  |  la'  la  |  la'  la 
Tr-a  la  |  la'  la  |  U'l  a  |  la' 
Tr'a  la  I  la'  la  I  U'  U  I  la'  la 
Tr'a  la  I  la'  U  I  la'  U  I  la'. 

Having  taken  some  of  the  ingredients,  we  may  now 
do  a  little  mixing.  Inspiration  from  the  Divine  Muses 
will  be  a  good  thmg — since  we  are  not  attempting  to  be 
original: 

Ta'ke  a  |  U'ttle  |  pa'tch  of  |  Na'ture, 

An'd  a  |  li'ttle  |  bi't  of  |  lo've; 

Mi'x  it  I  w'ith  some  |  in'spir- 1  a'tion 

Fro'm  the  |  Go'lden  i  La'nd  a- 1  bo've. 

The  stanza  is  now  completed — if  you  want  any  more 
ot  ■■  I'he  Recipe"  you  may  finish  it  yourself. 

In  adopting  the  rhythm  from  any  poem  you  have 
read  and  using  it  as  your  own,  you  must  remember 
this:  thought,  feeling  and  form  are  inseparable.  Unless 
your  theme  corresponds  in  its  development  and  in  its 
mood  to  that  of  the  poem  from  which  the  rhythm  was 
chosen,  your  poem  will  be  but  a  parody.  Do  we  ever 
see  the  rh}rthm  of: 

Break,  {  Break,  |  Break, 

On  thy  cold  |  gray  stones,  |  O  sea! 


62 


POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 


used  by  any  writer  other  than  Tennyson?  If  not,  why 
not? 

On  the  other  hand,  have  you  not  read  many  poems 
based  on  the  rhythm  we  have  used  in  our  "Recipe"? 
Why.  is  this?  Just  because  we  have  here  the  keynote 
of  thought  and  feeling  upon  which  so  many  modern 
poems  are  based. 

For  another  example  in  proof  of  the  relation  of  form, 
mood  and  thought  compare: 

1.  It  was  late  in  mild  October,  and  the  long  autumnal  rain 
Had  left  the  summer  harvest-field  all  green  with  grass  again. 

2.  The  melancholy  days  are  come,  the  saddest  of  the  year, 
Of  wailing  wind  and  naked  wood  and  meadows  brown 

and  sere. 

The  poems  from  which  these  extracts  are  taken  both 
voice  the  thought  of  the  quiet  of  the  autumn.  In  the 
second  poem  the  calm  is  tinged  with  sadness,  but  this 
effect  is  accomplished  more  by  the  tone-color  than  by 
the  rhythm. 

A  question  arises  here:  In  employing  any  rhythm 
upon  which  to  build  a  poem,  what  deviation  from  the 
form  of  the  rhythmical  dummy  is  allowable?  In  most 
cases,  the  only  change  permissible  is  the  introduction 
of  syllables  to  correspond  to  grace  notes;  a  simple 
example  of  this  has  already  been  given.  The  number 
of  syllables  in  a  measure  may  vary  from  one  to  three. 
If  the  usual  foot  of  the  rhythm  contains  three  syllables, 
one  may  be  occasionally  dropped: 


I  spra'ng  |  to  the  sti'r- 1  rup  and  Jor- 1  is  and  he 


THE  MECHANISM  OF  VERSE  63 

If  the  Standard  bar  contains  two  syUables,  the  varia- 
tions may  run  from  a  one-syUable  to  a  three-syUable 
bar.    See  quotation  from  "Break,  Break,  Break!" 

We  must  never  forget  that  the  basic  principle  of  all 
.-hythm  is  Time.  So  many  writers  on  the  subject  of 
versification  have  gone  out  of  their  way  to  prove  that 
there  is  no  quantity  in  the  English  syllable,  no  long  and 
no  short.  It  is  quite  true  that  there  is  not  a  fixed  quan- 
tity for  each  syllable.  Sometimes  a  syllable  may  be 
long,  and  sometimes  in  verse  the  same  syUable  may  be 
short.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  manifestly  incorrect 
to  say  that  there  is  no  quantity.    In: 

Break,  |  Break,  |  Break, 

On  thy  cold  |  gray  stones,  |  O  sea! 

it  is  by  a  perfectly  natural  phonic  law  that  the  one  syUable 
in  one  case  occupies  a  whole  bar,  while  in  another 
case  there  are  two  syUables,  and  in  a  third,  three.  We 
cannot  without  some  vocal  exaggeration  prolong  the 
sounds,  on,  thy,  or  kindred  words  such  as:  Ike,  a,  of, 
but,  in,  etc.;  nor  can  we  in  any  natural  manner  shorten 
to  the  same  quantity  as  on,  the  words  break,  sea,  gray, 
stones.  A  vowel  sound  phonetically  long  may  be  con- 
sidered in  versification  as  equivalent  to  two  vowel 
sounds  phoneticaUy  short.  It  is  only  by  a  proper 
appreciation  of  the  principle  of  quantity  that  one  can 
tell  to  what  extent  it  is  allowable  to  vary  from  the 
rhythmical  foundation  of  a  stanza.  Here  are  a  few 
stanzas  from  a  poem  whose  rhythmic  unit  is  a  two- 
syllable  measure.  Study  carefully  the  variations  from 
this  standard  bar  unit: 


64  POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 

1  stoo'd  I  on  the  brid'ge  |  at  mi'dnight,    _ 
As  the  doc'lu  |  were  stri'k- 1  ing  the  hou  r, 
And  the  mo'on  |  rose  o'er  |  the  ci'ty, 
Behin'd  |  the  dar'k  |  church-tow'er. 

1  saw'  I  her  brig'ht  1  reflection 
In  the  wa't- 1  ers  un'd- 1  er  m'e, 
Like  a  go'ld- 1  en  go'b- 1  let  fa'lling 
And  sin'k- 1  ing  in'  - 1  to  the  s'ea. 

And  fa'r  |  in  the  ha'i- 1  y  di'stance 
Of  that  lo've- 1  ly  nig'ht  |  in  Ju'ne 
The  bUz'e  1  of  the  flam- 1  ing  fur'nace 
Gleamed  re'd- 1  der  than'  |  the  moo'n.  _^ 

— I/)NOWLLOW.  "The  Bridge. 

This  extract  also  illustrates  very  plainly  what  has  been 
said  about  the  relation  between  thought  and  form. 
It  would,  perhaps,  be  a  very  difficult  matter  to  analyas 
the  form  of  this  poem  to  show  just  how  the  tone  of  med- 
itative melancholy  persUts  even  from  the  beginning, 
although  in  the  three  stanzas  quoted  there  is  no  hmt 
of  anything  beyond  mere  scenic  description. 

The  form  of  a  poem  is  never  an  accident— it  is  a  resuK. 


Suggestions  for  Study  and  Practice 

1.  Review  "The  Music  of  Poetry." 

2.  Review  "The  Simple  Laws  of  Rhythm." 

3.  Read  Edgar  Man  Poe's  account  of  how  he  com- 
posed "  The  RaveT  " 

4.  Draw  up  rhythmical  dummies  of  all  the  dif- 
ferent stanza  forms  you  can  find.  Study  the  moveissnt 
of  each. 


THE  MECHANISM  OF  VERSE 


65 


5.  Review  the  chapters  dealing  with  vene-fomu, 
subject-matter,  and  rhyme. 

6.  Write  a  short  humorous  poem.  Choose  a  lively 
rhythm. 

7.  Write  a  short  narrative  poem,  (a)  Use  iambic 
pentameter  (blank  verse).  (6)  Rewrite,  using  rhymed 
couplets;  make  your  chief  pauses  within  the  lines. 

8.  Write  a  short  description  of  a  lake,  river  or  land- 
scape, etc.    (a)  In  prose,    (b)  Turn  it  into  verse. 

9.  Select  a  theme  for  a  poem.  Jot  down  a  number 
of  ideas;  then  choose  a  suitable  rhythm  from  some 
well-known  poem.  Make  a  dummy  and  follow  it 
closely  in  writing  your  poem. 

10.  Select  ten  examples  of  faulty  rhythm  and  make 
corrections.  (For  examples,  look  through  newspapers 
and  magazines.) 


CHAPTER  X 


THE  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  POETRY 


1 


r: 


^T^HE    mind  is  the  man.    So,  in  the  last  analysis 

I  of  almost  every  subject,  we  face  the  question, 
"What  are  the  mental  processes  involved  and 
how  do  they  operate?" 

Already,  in  this  series  of  essays,  we  have  observed  the 
two  chief  attitudes  of  mind,  the  intellectual  and  the 
emotional.  The  intellect  is  concerned  with  generalities, 
abstractions,  scientific  facts — with  the  problem  of  two 
and  two  make  four,  with  the  dissection  of  a  flower 
into  sepals,  petals,  stamens  and  pistils.  The  emotions 
are  affected  primarily  through  the  senses  by  concrete 
objects  and  conditions — by  the  beauty  of  color  and 
form  in  the  flower  and  the  spiritual  truth  symbolized 
thereby.    The  emotional  attitude  is  essentially  poetic. 

To  influence  the  emotions  with  the  written  or  spoken 
word,  the  poet  must  in  some  way  reproduce  concrete 
conditions,  scenes  and  objects.  Doing  this  involves 
on  his  part  the  exercise  of  the  faculty  of  Imagination, 
and  the  same  faculty  must  be  employed  by  the  reader 
or  hearer  in  order  to  realize  the  objects  presented. 

Compare  these  two  illustrations: 

(i)  A  plain  statement  of  facts:  "The  King  of  Persia 
at  the  batde  of  Salamis  opposed  the  Greeks  with  a 

ea 


THE  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  POETRY 


67 


large  navy  and  a  mighty  force  of  men.    He  was  com- 
pletely routed  after  a  single  day's  fighting." 
(a)  The  imaginative  and  poetic  presentation: 

A  king  aate  on  the  rocky  brow 
Which  looks  o'er  sea-bom  Salamls; 
And  ships  in  thousands  lay  below, 
And  men  in  nations;  all  were  his! 
He  counted  them  at  break  of  day— 
And  when  the  sun  set,  where  were  they? 

— Bybon:    "The  Isles  of  Greece." 

The  first  is  general  and  abstract,  the  second  specific 
and  concrete. 

It  is  in  this  power  to  see  clearly  and  to  picture  vividly 
in  the  concrete  that  the  poet  differs  from  the  ordinary 
man — he  has  a  more  fully  develoj^ed  imaginative  faculty 
and  a  more  fluent  manner  of  expression.  But  most 
ordinary  mortals  have  sufficient  of  the  imaginative 
power  to  realize  what  the  ix)et  presents;  if  not,  they 
cannot  appreciate  poetry.  They  may  have  seen  dimly: 
they  may  have  felt  vaguely— but  "hen  the  poet  presents 
a  picture  they  can  say,"I,  too,  have  seen  this";when 
he  voices  an  emotion  they  can  say,  "I,  too,  have  felt 
this."  A.S  Emerson  says,  "We  need  an  interpreter. 
.  .  .  We  cannot  report  the  conversation  we  have 
had    with    Nature.  .     .     Too   feebly   fall   the   im- 

pressions of  Nature  on  us  to  make  us  artists." 

The  imagination  acts,  to  a  great  extent,  subconsciousl> 
All   the   sights,    sounds,    impressions   and   experiences 
pass  to  the  inner  recesses  of  the  mind  to  reappear  in 
some  mysterious  manner  as,   (i)  Memories,  exact  re- 
productions coming  without  any  exercise  of  will;    (a) 


68 


POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 


RecoUectiona,  also  exact  reproductions,  but  called  up 
as  a  result  of  mental  effort;  (3)  Images,  recreated 
objects  or  conditions,  not  identical  in  all  details  with 
what  has  been  observed  through  the  senses,  but  formed 
by  the  selecting  and  recombining  of  the  material 
acquired  from  past  sense  experiences. 

It  is  in  his  power  of  imagining  that  the  poet  excels. 
And  in  this  imagining,  or  process  of  imagination,  he 
does  not  reproduce  all  the  details  of  past  sense-impres- 
sions. Nor  does  he  select  many  details.  He  rather 
chooses  the  most  striking  features  as  they  appear  to 
him  from  a  certain  view-point. 

Examine  carefully  this  poem: 

The  frost  that  stings  like  fire  upon  my  cheek, 

The  loneliness  of  this  forsaken  ground. 

The  long  white  drift  upon  whose  powdered  peak 

I  sit  in  the  great  silence  as  one  bound; 

The  rippled  sheet  of  snow  where  the  wind  blew 

Across  the  open  fields  for  miles  ahead; 

The  far-off  city  towered  and  roofed  in  blue 

A  tender  line  upon  the  western  red; 

The  stars  that  singly,  then  in  flocks  appear, 

Like  jets  of  silver  from  the  violet  dome, 

So  wonderful,  so  many,  and  so  near. 

And  then  the  golden  moon  to  light  me  home — 

The  crunching  snowshoes  and  the  stinging  air, 

And  silence,  frost  and  beauty  everywhere. 

— Lampman  :    ' '  Winter  Uplands." 

This  sonnet  gives  a  clear-cut  picture  which  includes 
the  snowdrifts,  the  wide  fields,  the  city,  the  sunset,  the 
stars,  the  moon,  snowshoeing — all  in  a  few  lines.  It 
would  seem  impossible  to  get  anything  more  into  the 


THE  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  POETRY 


69 


pictuie,  and  yet  there  is  no  sense  of  overcrowding, 
because  in  reproducing  the  scene  the  poe»  )<ns  selected 
only  such  points  as  are  strilcingly  promineii 

I'his  process  of  selection  may  be  called  the  Recreative 
Imaginatiun.  But  the  imagination  goes  a  step  further — 
it  renders  the  emotional  values  i  i  Images  through  the 
aid  of  suggestion.  To  some  defiree  this  is  done  in  the 
sonnet  already  quoted:  the  wide,  snow-covered  fields, 
u>  their  monotonous,  lifeless  white  covering  create  a 
feeling  of  loneliness.  Tht  climatic  L.onditions  liarmonize 
with  the  mental  mood. 

Certain  concrete  conditions,  wiicthi  r  real  and  actual 
or  presented  imaginatively,  almost  ir.ar'aijlv  give  rise 
to  certain  emotions.  This  explains  wli.it  is  called  the 
atmosphere  or  setting  of  a  poem.    For  instance: 


The  day  is  cold  and  dark  and  dreary, 
It  rains  and  the  wind  is  never  weary; 
The  vine  still  clings  to  the  mouldering  wall. 
And  at  every  gust  the  dead  leaves  fall. 

— LoNGTELLOW:    "The  Rainy  Day." 

The  mental  picture  of  the  cold,  wet  day,  the  moulder- 
ing wall,  the  dead  leaves,  serves  to  heighten  the  emotional 
effect  which  is  certainly  far  from  cheerful.  These 
are  the  reproduced  sight-impressions,  but  there  are 
sound-impressions  also;  these  are  (i)  imaginative,  in 
the  reproduction  of  the  sounds  made  by  the  wind,  (3) 
real  and  actual,  in  the  employment  of  rhyming  words 
which  of  themselves  produce  a  drawn-out,  sorrowful 
wail— dreary,  weary,  mMtfail. 


70  POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 

SimSarly  notice  the  atmosphere  of: 

The  meUncholy  days  are  come,  the  saddest  days  of  the  year, 
Of  wailing  wind  and  naked  wood,  and  meadows  brown  and 
sere. 

— Bryaiii:    "The  Desth  of  the  Flowers." 

In  the  "Lady  of  Shalott,"  when  Tennyson  shows 
how  the  brightness  of  the  outside  world  forces  itself 
upon  the  mysterious  and  secluded  lady,  he  surrounds 
us,  in  imagination,  with  an  almost  overwhelming 
brilliancy: 

"The  sun  came  dazzling  thro'  the  leaves 
And  flamed  upon  the  brazen  greaves 
Of  bold  Sir  Lancelot. 

•  *  ♦  ♦  * 

The  gemmy  bridle  glittered  free 
Like  to  some  branch  of  stars  -ve  se» 
Hung  in  the  golden  Galaxy. 

***** 
All  in  the  blue,  unclouded  weather 
Thick-jewelled  shone  the  saddle-leather. 

***** 
He  flashed  into  the  crystal  mirror 
'Tirra,  lina,'  by  the  river 
Sang  Sir  Lancelot." 

But  when  the  curse  falls,  nature  no  longer  shows  a 
smiling  face: 

"In  the  stormy  east  wind  straining 
The  pale  yellow  woods  were  waning, 
The  broad  stream  in  its  banks  complaining 
Heavily  the  low  sky  raining 

Over  towered  Camelot." 


THE  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  POETRY 


71 


Shakespeare's  plays  a£Ford  numerous  examples  .of 
the  harmony  of  the  descriptive  setting  with  the  psy- 
chological mood.  As  Duncan  approaches  Macbeth's 
castle,  delighted  with  the  prospect  of  doing  honor  to 
his  brave  general,  everything  pleases  him.    He  says: 

"The  castle  hath  a  pleasant  seat;  the  air 
Nimbly  and  sweetly  recommends  itself 
Unto  our  gentle  senses." 

And  the  faithful  Banquo  feels,  too,  the  benign  influence 
and  replies: 

"The  guest  of  summer 
The  temple-haunting  martlet  does  approve 
By  his  loved  mansionry,  that  the  heaven's  breath 
Smells  wooingly  here.    .    . 
.     .    .    I  have  observed 
The  air  is  delicate." 

But  evil  and  darkness  go  hand  in  hand.    Before  the 
murder  of  Banquo,  Macbeth  says: 

"Come  seeling  night. 
Scarf  up  the  tender  eye  of  pitiful  day; 
.    .    .    Light  thickens;  and  the  crow 
Makes  wing  to  the  rooky  wood." 

Black  is  blackest  on  a  white  background,  and  so  we 
find  emotional  effects  frequently  heightened  by  the  use 
of  Contrast.  This  is  the  explanation  of  the  psychological 
value  of: 

(a)  Contrasted  ideas: 

"Dawned  with  haU  of  hale,  the  scorn  of  scorn,  the  lave  of  love." 

"Who,  God-like,  grasps  the  triple  forks. 
And,  King4ike,  wears  the  crown." 


72 


POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 


(b)  Color-contrast: 

"Leading  a  jet-black  goat,  while-horned,  white-hooved." 
"Dork  faces  pale  against  that  rosy  flame." 

(c)  Contrasted    moods:     Compare    the    different 
sections  of  the  Lady  of  Shalott. 

(d)  Contrasted   movement:     Compare   the   rela- 
tion of  movement  to  thought  in: 

"The  long  day  wanes:  the  slow   moon  climbs:  the  deep 
Moans  round  with  many  voices," 

wkh  a  few  lines  farther  on  in  "  Ulysses  " : 

"Push  off,  and  sitting  well  in  order  smite 
The  sounding  furrows." 

In  the  process  of  reproduction  the  Imagination  acts 
in  two  ways.  The  first  may  be  considered  a  visible 
mental  process  of  the  comparison  of  objects,  ideas  and 
their  correlated  emotions.  This  Associative  Imagi- 
nation is  fully  exemplified  in  most  of  the  extracts  already 
quoted.  In  the  second  mode— the  Interpretative  Imagi- 
nation— the  poet  bridges  over  the  intermediate  mental 
steps  and  gives  at  once  the  spiritual  value  of  the  sensa- 
tional experience: 

Sweet  flower!  For  by  that  name  at  last, 
When  all  my  reveries  are  past, 
I  call  thee,  and  to  that  hold  fast. 

Sweet,  silent  creature. 
That  breathest  with  me  in  sun  and  air 
Do  thou,  as  thou  art  wont,  repair 
My  heart  with  gladness  and  a  share 
Of  thy  meek  nature. 

—Wordsworth:    "To  a  Daisy." 


ive^sstfjfmmsiiMi 


THE  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  POETRY 


73 


Here  the  poet  renders  at  once  the  spiritual  character 
of  the  flower.  There  is  no  conscious  application  of 
the  process  of  association  or  comparison. 

The  law  governing  the  reconstructive  am'  selective 
process  of  Imagination  is  that  pictures  and  conditions 
must  be  produced  which  are  consistent  with  knowledge 
and  experience.  When  such  pictures  are  not  created, 
but  improbable,  irrational  and  arbitrary  combinations 
are  formed,  we  have  the  exercise  of  the  faculty  of  Fancy. 
That  arbiter  of  the  intellr't,  reason,  should  always  be 
in  the  background  keeping  watch  over  the  play  of 
Imagination  if  proper  results  are  to  be  attained. 


Suggestions  ior  Study  and  Practice 

1.  Select  examines  of  poetry  which  appeal  chiefly 
to  the  intellect.    Refer  to  Pope,  Dryden. 

2.  Compare  the  employment  of  Fancy  in  Shakespeare's 
"Midsummer  Night's  Dream"  with  the  imagination 
as  seen  in  "  As  You  Like  It." 

3.  Compare  the  vividness  of  imaginative  powers  of 
Tennyson  and  Browning. 

4.  Study  the  employment  of  Interpretative  Imag-!- 
nation  in  Bums, "To  a  Mountain  Daisy";  Wordswort'', 
"Stanzas  on  Peele  Castle";    SheUey,  "The  Cloud." 

5.  Select  examples  of  different  phases  of  poetic 
atmosphere. 

6.  Select  examples  of  different  uses  of  the  principle 
of  contrast. 

7.  Write  several  stanzas  on  some  subject,  usinj;  the 
principle  of  Associative  Imagination. 


74 


POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 


8.  Condense  the  above  poem  by  rendering  it  by  the 
use  of  Interpretative  Imagination. 

9.  Write  a  short  poem  employing  simply  the  re- 
creative processes  of  Imagination. 

10.  Write  a  companion  poem  to  "The  Rainy  Day." 
Call  it  "A  Day  of  Sunshine"  and  create  an  appropriate 
atmosphere. 


mi^i.:simfMnmssm 


J 


CHAPTER  XI 
A  STUDY  IN  EMOTIONAL  EFFECTS 

NO  very  definite  dassification  of  the  emotions 
has  been  attempted  by  writers  or  critics.  There 
are  certain  emotions  which  are  elemental  and 
which  were  as  much  a  part  of  the  mental  experience 
of  the  primitive  man  as  they  are  to-day  of  the  most 
highly  cmljzed  and  most  cultured  specimen  of  the 
human  race-the  emotions  of  love  and  hate,  of  envy, 
of  hope  and  despair.  For  this  reason  the  poetry  of 
Homer  appeals  to  us  to-day  as  it  did  to  the  ancients.  ) 

If  some  skilled  psychologist  were  to  trace  out  the 
laws  and  degrees  of  emotional  effect  in  poetry,  he  would 
probably  arrange  a  scale  of  emotions  just  as  there  is  a 
scale  of  sound  in  music-a  scale  running  from  that 
spirit  of  Caliban,  the  earthy  and  gross,  to  that  of  Ariel, 
the  spiritual  and  divine. 

The  simplest  emotion  is  purely  sensuous;  beauty 
of  color  and  grace  of  form  delight  the  eye;  harmony  and 
sweetness  of  sound  charm  the  ear;  poetry  which  stops 
short  at  this  point-and  much  modem  nature  verse 
does-accomplishes  little  or  nothing  toward  the  mental 
or  spiritual  culture  of  the  reader.  Keats  probably 
remains  as  yet  the  master  in  the  appeal  to  the  imagi- 
native eye,  while  Swinburne  is  the  leader  of  the  school 
of  musician-poets. 

7i 


'i^m*m:m. 


76 


POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 


This  phase  of  poetic  emotion  is  very  frequently  found 
in  the  work  of  the  Canadian  poets,  as  in: 

Miles  and  miles  of  crimson  glories, 
Autumn's  wondrous  fires  ablaze: 
Miles  of  shoreland  red  and  golden, 
Drifting  into  dream  and  haze. 

—V'.  W.  Cahfbell:    "Lake  Huron." 

There  are  found  critics  of  authority  who  claim  th»t 
such  work  as  this  and  such  melodic  chimes  as,  "The 
Bells,"  and  "Annabel  Lee,"  by  Poe,  are  in  the  front 
rank  of  poetry. 

If,  however,  poetry  is  expected  to  be  anything  but  the 
mere  music  of  words;  if  it  is  to  accomplish  anything 
beyond  the  mere  presentation  of  pictures  and  the  re- 
production of  sweet  sound,  the  emotional  effect  must 
reach  to  something  higher,  something  moral  or  spiritual 
in  its  application. 

Poetry  which  touches  the  moral  or  spiritual  emotions 
is  of  higher  rank  than  the  purely  sensuous  because  it 
can  affect  the  will  and  influence  the  conduct  of  life. 
The  moral  suggestion  in  the  purely  esthetic  presenta- 
tion of  beauty  is  so  fleeting  and  so  intangible  that  it 
rarely  accomplishes  any  definite  results. 

Tennyson's  "Lady  of  Shalott,"  is  a  poem  which 
combines  brilliancy  of  color,  with  delicious  music,  but 
the  final  effect  contains  no  elements  of  strength;  any 
definite  application  cannot  be  obtained  without  reading 
into  the  poem,  as  many  interpreters  of  it  do,  something 
that  the  writer  had  no  thought  of  putting  there.  On 
the  other  hand,  "Ulysses,"  by  Tennyson,  is  simple,  even 
rugged  in  style,  lacking  many  of  the  musical  devices 


A  STUDY  IN  EMOTIONAL  EFFECTS 


77 


of  the  other  poem,  and  yet  how  pregnant  with  moral 
suggestion  and  spiritual  meaning! 

Unity  of  emotional  effect  in  poetry  is  as  imperative 
or  even  more  so  than  unity  of  subject.  The  laws  of 
music  require  that  the  musical  composition  must  be 
all  in  tlie  same  key.  Monotony  is  avoided  by  varia- 
tions of  pitch.  So,  too,  emotional  effects  must  belong 
to  the  same  emotional  mood.  Almost  anyone  can 
recognize  the  jar  which  comes  at  the  last  line  of  each 
stanza  in: 

One  said:  Thy  life  is  thine  to  make  or  mar, 
To  Sicker  feebly  or  to  soar  a  star; 
It  lies  with  thee— the  choice  is  thine,  is  thine, 
To  hit  the  ties  or  drive  thy  auto-car. 

It's  all  decreed:  the  mighty  earthquake  crash: 
The  countless  constellations  wheel  and  flash: 
The  rise  and  fall  of  empires,  war's  red  tide. 
The  composition  of  your  dinner  hash. 

— R.  W.  Service:     "Quatrains." 

The  individuality  of  any  poet's  work  lies  largely  in 
the  range  of  his  emotional  effects;  back  of  that,  no  doubt, 
lie  his  own  emotional  experiences,  real  or  imaginative. 
In  Shakespeare  we  have  as  yet  the  greatest  creative 
power  and  widest  emotional  range. 

The  vividness  of  presentation  of  emotional  effects 
is  a  most  important  factor  in  the  poet's  work.  If  we 
could  all  write  what  we  feel,  even  the  humblest  of  us 
would  be  poets  of  no  mean  order.  Clearness  of  expres- 
sion is  not  the  only  requisite  for  vividness.  Very  often 
the  most  wearisome  story-teller  is  the  one  who  tries  to 
pictiut  clearly  every  little  detail.    Skill  in  seizing  on 


mm 


78 


POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 


the  most  suggestive  features  and  arranging  them  in 
their  proper  perspective  is  necessary  in  securing  force. 
The  work  of  so  great  a  poet  as  Browning  is  often  obscured 
by  this  lack  of  perspective— the  author  failing  to  place 
his  reader  at  the  same  view-point  as  himself.  Such 
poems  as  "The  Duchess,"  and  "Epistle  to  Karshish," 
require  a  guide-book  for  their  interpretation. 

The  basis  of  tic  emotional  effect  must  be  genuine. 
It  is  quite  natu  J  that  a  little  girl  should  cry  over  the 
mishaps  of  her  dolly,  but  what  about  a  grown-up  who 
would  do  so  ? 

(  Much  of  Byron's  work,  though  forcible  and  at  a  time 
very  popular,  had  its  basis  n  the  overwrought  emotions 
of  his  disordered  mind!  '  The  result  is  that,  as  the 
personal  interest  in  him  declined,  his  works  dropped 
out  of  recognition  of  the  reading  public.) 

Wordsworth's  work  shows  some  incogruous  emotional 
combinations.  Take,  for  instance,  "Strange  Fits  of 
Passion." 

'Strange  fits  of  passion  have  I  known 

And  I  will  dare  to  tell 
But  in  the  lover's  ear  alone 
What  once  to  me  befell." 

This  opening  would  not  lead  one  to  look  for  a  partic- 
ularly lofty,  impassioned  love  tale,  but  unless  one  lacks, 
as  the  poet  did,  the  saving  sense  of  humor,  the  climax 
is  little  short  of  the  ludicrous. 

"My  horse  moved  on;  hoof  after  hoot 
He  raised  and  never  stopped; 
When  down  behind  the  cottage  roof. 
At  once,  the  bright  moon  dropped 


A  STUDY  IN  EMOTIONAL  EFFECTS  79 

What  fond  and  wayward  thoughti  will  alide 

Into  a  lover's  head  I — 
'Mercy,'  to  myaelf  I  cried, 

'If  Lucy  should  be  dead.' " 

Contrast  with  this  the  e£Fect  of  a  shorter  poem  by  the 
same  author: 

'She  dwelt  among  the  untrodden  ways 

Beside  the  springs  of  Dove: 
A  maid  whom  there  were  none  to  praise, 

And  very  few  to  love. 

A  violet  by  a  mossy  stone 

Half  hidden  from  the  eye! 
Fair  as  a  star  when  only  one 

Is  shining  in  the  sky. 

She  lived  unknown  and  few  could  know 

When  Lucy  ceased  to  be; 
But  she  is  in  her  grave,  and,  oh. 

The  difference  to  me." 

The  quality  of  emotion  is  largely  a  matter  of  the 
temperament  of  the  writer,  the  range  is  the  result  of  his 
experience  of  life;  but  the  unity  of  effect,  the  [;;  vcr 
of  picturing  and  the  appropriate  selection  of  the  theme 
at  the  basis  of  the  emotion  are  matters  to  be  cultivated 
by  assiduous  study  of  the  laws  of  emotional  effect. 

Suggested  Illustrative  Readings 

1.  Variety  of  emotion:  Shakespeare's  "Hamlet," 
"Midsummer  Night's  Dream,"  "Macbeth,"  "Mer- 
chant of  Venice,"  "As  You  Like  It,"  "Henry  IV." 

2.  Quality  of  emotion:  Compare  Shelley,  Keats, 
Tennyson,  Browning,  Pope. 


80 


POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 


3.  Unity  of  emotion:  Trace  through  any  of  Shake- 
apeare's  plays,  especially  his  tragedies;  Wordsworth's 
"Excursion"  (defective). 

4.  Appropriateness  of  emotion:  Byron's  "Childe 
Harold,"    Dickens'  "Death  of  little  Nell." 

5.  Vividness  of  emotion:  Shakespeare's  plays,  Cole- 
ridge's ' '  Ancient  Mariner." 

6.  Select  several  examples  of  magazine  verse  to  illus- 
trate the  points  of  this  chapter. 


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APPENDIX  A 

RECOGNIZED  TERMS  IN  VERSIFICATION 

F  I  WE  terms  used    in   most  works  on  versification 
JL       are   borrowed   from   the   metrical   systems  ol 
Greek  and  Latin,  and  as  no  accepted  system 
of  nomenclature  has  yet  replaceu   ibis,  we  give  here 
the  explanation  of  these  terms: 
A  syllable-group  is  called  a  Foot  or  Measure. 
An  Iambic  Measure  or  Foot  is  a  standard  syllable- 
group  consisting  of  two  syllables,  the  latter  being  ac- 
cented: 


The  way  |  was  long  |  the  wind  |  was  cold, 
The  min  \  strel  was  { in-firm  |  and  old. 

This  foot  may,  as  shown  in  the  chapters  on  rhythm 
and  verse-mechanism,  replace  a  two-syllable  group 
with  a  single  accented  syllable:  or  three  syllables  may 
occasionally  take  the  place  of  the  two,  the  accent  falling 
on  the  last. 

The  reverse  of  the  Iambic  is  the  Trochee,  or  Trochaic 
foot — a  two-syllable  group  with  uccent  on  the  first 
syllable: 

Art  is  I  long  and  |  time  is  |  fieeting. 


MKROCOPY   RBOIUTION  TfST  CHART 

(ANSI  and  (SO  TEST  CHART  No.  2) 


i^n^ 


^  /APPLIED  IN/MGE    Inc 

^^-  1653  East   Main   Street 

—  —  RochMttf,   Now   Yorti         U609       USA 

'JSS  (71o)   482  -  0300  -  Phons 

^=  (716)   288  -  5989  -  Fax 


82 


POINTS  ABOUT  POETRY 


There  are  three  possible  arrangements  of  the  three- 
syllable  group: 

I.  The  Dactylic  Foot,  having  the  accent  on  the  first 
syllable: 

/  /  /  / 

Hail  to  the  |  chief  who  in  |  triumph  ad  |  vances. 

3.  The  Amphibrachic,  accent  on  the  middle  syllable: 

So  this  is  I  your  cradle  |  why  surely  |  my  Jenny. 
3.  Anapaestic,  accent  on  the  last  syllable: 

'^Tis  the  last  |  rose  of  sum  |  mer  left  bloom  |  ing  alone. 

Some  writers  use  the  term  Spondee  to  apply  to  two- 
syllable  groups  in  which  the  length  of  the  syllables  is 
equal,  but  this  in  English  versification  is  a  meaningless 
classification.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Latin 
and  Greek  system  measured  feet  by  their  syllabic  length, 
and  in  adopting  the  above  system  it  must  be  clearly 
understood  that  time  and  accent  are  the  governing 
principles.  We  cannot  have  in  the  same  measure  two 
syllables  having  equal  stress. 

A  line  or  verse  of  poetry  is  a  combination  of  feet. 
Very  rarely  we  find  a  line  of  one  foot,  occasionally, 
two  feet;  but  an  ordinary  line  in  English  poetry  does 
not  contain  less  than  three  or  more  than  more  than  six 
feet.  Sometimes  lines  are  found  containing  seven  or 
eight  feet.    The  lines  are  named  as  follows: 

1.  Monometer,  containing  one  foot. 

2.  Dimeter,  two  feet. 


RECOGNIZED  TERMS   IN  VERSIFICATION      83 

3.  Trimeter,  three  feet. 

4.  Tetrameter,  four  feet 

5.  Pentameter,  five  feet. 

6.  Hexameter,  six  feet. 

7.  Heptameter,  seven  feet. 

(Examples  of  the  various  kinds  of  lines  should  be 
collected  from  works  of  standard  poets). 

In  giving  the  metrical  form  of  a  line,  the  kind  of  foot 
is  named  first;  then  the  number  of  measures  in  the  line, 
thus:     Iambic    Tetrameter,    Trochaic    Trimeter,    etc. 

A  Caesura  is  a  pause  in  a  line,  required  by  the  mean- 
ing. Sometimes  it  corresponds  to  the  group  divisions, 
but  often  divides  the  foot. 

And  loved  |  him  ||  with  |  that  love  |  which  was  |  her  doom, 

II  marks  the  caesura. 

A  number  of  terms  are  used  to  indicate  the  omission 
or  addition  of  a  syllable  under  certain  conditions. 
Nothing  is  to  be  gained  by  their  use;  all  these  varia- 
tions are  but  special  cases  of  the  general  rule  that  the 
time  of  utterance  for  the  groups  must  be  the  same. 


APPENDIX  B 


BOOKS  TO  READ 


FOR  those  who  wish  to  pursue  the  subject  further, 
the  following  list  of  books  may  be  found  helpful: 
I.  Winchester's  Principles  of  Literary  Criticism: 
a  series  of  eight  excellent  lectures  on  Literature;  spe- 
cially valuable  for  the  discussion'  of  the  emotional 
element,  the  imagination,  the  intellectual  element,  the 
formal  element,  and  poetry  generally.  Gives  a  good 
appendix  of  illustrative  references. 

3.  Hart's  Composition  and  Rhetoric:  a  fairly  good 
discussion  of  general  terms  in  meter,  and  !i  chapter  on 
classification  of  subject-matter. 

3.  Preludes,  by  Dr.  J.  D.  Logan,  Toronto:  contains 
two  valuable  essays,  "An  Epistle  in  Crit'cism"  which 
will  add  much  to  the  imderstanding  of  the  psychology 
of  poetry,  and  "The  Rhythmical  Dummy,"  which 
presents  in  brief  the  fundamentals  of  verse-mechanism. 

4.  The  Musical  Basis  of  Verse,  by  Josephine  P. 
Dabney:  leans  a  little  too  far  in  the  direction  of  music 
and  wastes  time  on  an  historical  introduction,  but  is 
well  worth  study  for  its  examples  of  movement  in  rhythm, 
tone-coloring,  etc. 

5.  Genung's  Practical  Rhetoric:  especially  with  ref- 
erence to  the  language  of  poetry  and  the  use  of  figures 
of  speech. 

84 


BOOKS  TO  READ 


85 


6.  Barrett  Wendell's  Composition:  read  this  for  its 
explanation  of  the  uses  of  words. 

7.  Sherman's  Analytics  of  Literature:  particularly 
good  for  the  study  of  the  art  of  the  poets,  and  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  effects  are  produced,  atmosphere 
in  poetry,  etc. 

8.  Gimimere's  Poetics:  rather  heavy,  but  useful 
to  get  a  general  view  of  versification  and  poetic  qualities. 

9.  The  Poetic  Principle:  a  study  in  verse  construc- 
tion by  Edgar  Allan  Poe. 

10.  The  Science  of  English  Verse,  by  Sidney  Lanier. 
This  is  the  most  exhaustive  study  of  rhythm  from  the 
standpoint  of  its  relation  to  music. 


,♦ 


■41^' - 


